“You couldn’t.”
He rubbed a hand across his forehead.
“It happened the week before graduation.”
Jordan leaned forward.
“You never told me that.”
Richard shook his head. “He was diagnosed with an aggressive neurological disease. The doctors gave him months.”
Stormy reached for my hand without saying anything.
Richard continued.
“My parents had already lost everything keeping my younger sister alive when she had leukemia.”
He looked at Jordan.
“By then she’d recovered, but the medical debt never did.”
He gave a tired smile.
“We were drowning.”
I listened without interrupting.
“My father begged me not to tell Doron.”
My head lifted.
“What?”
“He said if I married you…” Richard’s voice caught. “…I’d spend the rest of my life dragging you into debt that wasn’t yours.”
I stared at him.
“He actually said that?”
Richard nodded.
“He told me love wasn’t enough if I couldn’t give you a stable life.”
I felt something inside me begin to shift.
“I argued with him.”
“I told him we’d figure it out together.”
He laughed bitterly.
“He said that was exactly what he was trying to prevent.”
Stormy whispered, “So you just…left?”
Richard looked at her sadly.
“I was 23.”
