Inside were old letters my father had written to my mother before they married.
My father had once been in almost the exact same situation.
My mother’s parent had believed Dad wasn’t right for her.
Had my father listened back then, I would never have existed.
“Why didn’t you come back?” I asked.
Jeffrey looked at me.
“Because by then, I had already promised my life to Margaret.”
He swallowed.
“And I loved her too, Ruth.”
Strangely, hearing that didn’t hurt.
I thought it would.
Instead, I asked,
“What you had with her… it was real?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m glad.”
He looked surprised.
“I wouldn’t want another woman’s entire marriage turned into some mistake just because you and I were too frightened to say what we wanted when we were nineteen.”
Jeffrey reached for my hand.
“I wrote that last letter because I knew if we kept talking, there was a chance I would run back to you.”
“And cutting me out completely seemed better?”
“No.”
A sad smile crossed his face.
“I thought it was the responsible thing to do.”
He sighed.
“I was wrong.”
I held his hand.
“Did Margaret know?”
“Eventually.”
“What did she say?”
Jeffrey smiled.
“She said we were two of the stupidest people she had ever heard of.”
I laughed.
Jeffrey laughed too.
Even Peter smiled.
“She sounds smart,” I said.
“She was.”
Margaret had died several years earlier.
After her death, Jeffrey considered contacting me many times.
But every time, he stopped himself.
“I didn’t know if I had the right anymore.”
“You could have tried.”
“I know.”
I shook my head.
“So we lost more than forty years because everyone kept deciding what was best for everyone else.”
“Pretty much.”
“That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Also true.”
We sat quietly for a moment.
Then something occurred to me.
“Jeffrey.”
“What?”
“I’m sixty.”
His eyes widened.
Then slowly, he smiled.
“So you are.”
“We had a deal.”
Jeffrey lifted his hand.
His fingers were trembling.
“If we’re both single at sixty…”
I wrapped my pinky around his.
“We stop being idiots and find each other.”
Tears ran down his face.
“Still single?”
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
My eyes moved toward the ring.
—
I stayed beside Jeffrey through the following day.
We talked for hours.
More than I thought two people possibly could.
