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His mom called repeatedly.
“Maggie,we wronged you.I’m begging—see Ethan.He needs you.”
“If Ethan’s struggling,get him to a doctor,not me.We’re done.”
I was firm.
Her calls kept coming.
Ethan called,too.
I ignored him,but he used others’phones.
His persistence surprised me.
Finally,I answered.
He paused,then spoke softly,like when we met.“Maggie,you doing okay?”
His warmth stirred nothing in me.
A good partner heals old wounds.
With Ryan,Ethan’s pain faded.
The past was just a memory to let go.
“I’m great,”I said.“I’ve moved on.I wish you happiness.”
The next spring,Ryan and I married.
My first real wedding—Ethan never gave me one in six years.
Ryan planned it meticulously,refusing to let me stress.
“My Maggie,save your energy for me elsewhere,”he teased,fox-like.
The wedding was grand,fulfilling every girlhood dream.
Onstage,we vowed and cried in each other’s arms.
The crowd cheered.
Epilogue
Ethan attended my wedding.
I glowed like a princess,my face alight in ways he’d never seen.
As we exchanged rings,his heart twitched.
He realized he’d never given me a proper wedding—or even a ring.
He laughed bitterly.
He’d lost a rare,devoted woman.
He gave her nothing,yet she loved him for six years.
Six whole years.
He felt like a fool.
But he swore—if Ryan ever hurt me,he’d make him pay,no matter the cost.
The next year,Ethan married a CEO’s daughter for business.
Before the wedding,he visited our old home one last time.
Wandering,every corner felt familiar yet foreign.
In the storage room,he spotted a box—my most treasured possession.
On impulse,he opened it.
Inside were all the gifts he’d given me,from college to before the divorce,neatly kept.
In those young days,a glance at me made him blush.
A framed photo sat in the center—our first together.
As he lifted it,a note fell.
Ethan and Maggie will grow old together.Forever.
Ethan,a grown man,broke down.
He’d won the jackpot.
But he realized it too late.
