Chapter 8 - The Anniversary Gala I Returned to Was Supposed to Celebrate the Woman I Had Become, but Nathaniel Had One Last SecretThe gala wasn't for me.
It was for the foundation.
Women who had escaped abusive marriages.
Caregivers.
Single mothers.
Employees who had been financially exploited.
People like me.
I stood on the stage.
Four hundred guests watched.
I had never been good at public speaking.
But I spoke anyway.
“I spent years thinking quiet meant invisible.”
The room was silent.
“I thought if I worked hard enough, loved enough, gave enough, people would treat me gently.”
I took a breath.
“I was wrong.”
“Kindness does not guarantee kindness in return.”
“But that doesn't make kindness weakness.”
“It makes it a choice.”
Applause filled the room.
I looked toward my brothers.
Then Nathaniel.
He was crying.
Afterward, he found me outside.
“I have something.”
“What?”
He gave me a box.
Inside was my old wedding ring.
The one I had left on the table the night Damian hit me.
I stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“Damian gave it to my brother before he disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because he said you deserved it.”
I looked at the ring.
For a moment, I felt the old pain.
Then I smiled.
“I don't want it.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“I thought you might say that.”
“What do you want me to do with it?”
He took it.
Then threw it into the river.
I stared.
“What are you doing?”
He smiled.
“Ending the marriage.”
I laughed.
“That took a year.”
“I wanted to be certain.”
He stepped closer.
“I don't want to marry the woman you were.”
My heart stopped.
“I want to marry the woman you've become.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
He froze.
Then I smiled.
“Not tonight.”
He laughed.
“Okay.”
“Ask me when there's no audience.”
“Deal.”
He didn't push.
He didn't pressure.
He simply stayed.
Three months later, he asked again.
In my kitchen.
No cameras.
No family.
No ring at first.
Just a question.
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I know what losing you feels like.”
“And?”
“I don't want fear to be the reason I choose you.”
I smiled.
“Then why?”
“Because I know who I am now.”
He took my hand.
“And I know who you are.”
I kissed him.
“Yes.”
He cried.
I laughed.
“That was easy.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“It took five years.”
We told my brothers.
Alexander stared.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at Nathaniel.
“If you ever hurt her again…”
Nathaniel smiled.
“I know.”
Marcus added:
“We don't need to finish that sentence.”
Nathaniel laughed.
Our wedding was small.
Not at Alder House.
Not in a ballroom.
In my mother's garden.
The same garden where she had taught me to read.
The same place where I had sat with my brothers after she died.
Now it was filled with flowers.
Our family.
Our friends.
The women from the foundation.
Nathaniel looked at me.
Not my fortune.
Not my name.
Me.
“I choose you.”
May you like
I smiled.
“I choose you too.”
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