PART 2
I gazed at her photo for a long time before murmuring, “I wonder what became of her?”
The next morning, my young neighbor Jake came by to check on me.
He was twenty years old, a student, with messy hair, noisy sneakers, and an extraordinary kindness.
“Are you all right, Mr. Arthur?” he asked, placing a shopping bag on my counter. “You seem worried.”
I showed him the photo.
“I just found an old photo of myself at your age,” I said, handing it to him.
“That was Evelyn,” I added. “My first love.”
Jake leaned towards me, feigning surprise.
“Wow! She was magnificent.”
“She was everything to me,” I told her.
He looked at me for a moment.
“Do you want to try and find her?”
I laughed because it seemed impossible to me.
“Jake, that was sixty years ago.”
“So what?” he said, taking out his phone. “These days, people leave traces everywhere.”
For days, he helped me search on the internet.
We combed through old school registers, city directories, reunion groups and retirement home lists.
Every night, I told myself not to get my hopes up too much.
Besides, we weren’t sure what we were going to find.
Was she married?
Was she still alive?
Suddenly, Jake froze at the kitchen table.
“Arthur,” he said softly. “I think I’ve found her.”
My hands tightened on the edge of the table.
I rushed towards the screen.
It was indeed Evelyn.
Older, obviously.
But her eyes still shone and her smile still had the same dimple as I remembered.
Evelyn was alive.
She too was alone, living in a retirement home 1,900 kilometers away.
I remained silent for several minutes.
I stared at his name, my eyes fixed on it.
“Do you want to call first?” Jake asked.
I shook my head.
“No. I prefer to see her in person.”
The next morning, I bought a plane ticket.
Jake insisted on coming with me.
“You’re going to fail school,” I told him.
“This will teach me more about life than any class today,” he replied with a smile.
I couldn’t contradict him.
Before takeoff, Jake placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Whatever happens, you had the courage to go.”
I nodded, but my throat was too tight to reply.
The flight seemed endless, longer than all the years that separated us.
I kept touching the small ring box in my jacket pocket.
It wasn’t expensive, and it wasn’t my wife’s ring.
I had deeply loved my wife, and I will always be grateful for the life we shared.
Before she died, she told me: “When I’m no longer here, please find love and happiness. You deserve all of that and much more.”
What I felt for Evelyn belonged to another chapter of my life, but it had never completely disappeared.
I hoped my wife would understand.
Upon our arrival at the retirement home, a woman named Carla greeted us.
“I came to see Evelyn,” I said. She glanced at me, then at Jake, as if she knew him.
Yet, she simply smiled.
She led us down a silent corridor to a veranda.
And there, near a window, with a blanket on her lap, sat Evelyn.
My hands began to tremble.
She looked older, of course.
Me too.
But as soon as she looked up, I knew it was really her.
“Arthur?” she murmured.
I could barely stand.
“Evelyn.”
His gaze traveled across my face.
“I heard you were married,” she said softly.
I agreed.
” Yes. “
“Was she good to you?”
A sad smile crossed my face.
“Yes. Her name was Margaret. We lived 35 wonderful years together before I lost her.”
Evelyn shook my hand.
“I’m glad you weren’t alone all this time.”
I lowered my gaze to our clasped hands.
“And I’m sorry you were.”
She shook her head gently.
“I wasn’t alone.”
At that moment, I didn’t understand what she meant.
I would soon understand.
For a moment, we sat together, hand in hand, as if those 60 years had been nothing but a bad dream.
So I did what I had traveled 1900 kilometers to do.
I slowly knelt down.
“Evelyn,” I whispered, handing her the ring, “I’ve lost sixty years. I don’t want to lose a single one. Will you marry me?”
For a second, she simply stared at me.
Then tears welled up in her eyes.
“I recognized your gaze immediately,” she said softly.
I smiled through my tears.
But before I could even catch my breath, Evelyn squeezed my hand and whispered something that chilled me to the bone.
“I need to tell you something before I answer.”
My smile faded.
Silence fell in the room.
I had no idea that his words would change my life.
I remained on my knees longer than I would have liked, unable to move.
Evelyn looked over my shoulder, towards the window. Her thumb trembled against my hand.
The nursing home staff quietly slipped away, leaving us alone. Jake followed them down the corridor.
Soon, we were alone, facing the truth she had carried within her for sixty years.
“Arthur,” she said softly, “the misunderstanding wasn’t what you thought it was.”
I felt a tightness in my chest.
At the time, we had separated because Evelyn had suddenly distanced herself.
She had said she had to leave the city and start her life over somewhere else.
I was then finishing my studies and preparing to enter law school.
For all those years, I had believed that she had chosen someone else.
I received a letter saying that she never wanted to see me again.
It was cruel, cold, and final.
“I thought you had left me,” I confessed.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I thought I was doing what was best for you.”
I stared at her.
“You were top of your class,” she continued. “You were going to law school. I couldn’t steal your future.”
My heart sank.
“Nothing would have made me leave you. Not law school. Nothing at all.”
Her eyes closed for a moment.
“I realized it too late.”
She swallowed with difficulty.
“I wrote to you every week for two months after I left.”
I was speechless.
“No,” I murmured. “I never received them.”
“I know that now.”
She took a trembling breath.
“Years later, my aunt finally confided in me what had happened.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“My father intercepted all the letters before they reached you.”
For Complete Cooking STEPS Please Head On Over To Next Page Or Open button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends.
