PART 18
Later that evening,
after Ethan had gone outside to play with the neighborhood children,
Emma found Ryan sitting on the porch.
He was holding the old photo album,
staring at the pictures of their early marriage,
before the darkness took over.
She sat down on the wooden bench beside him,
resting her head against his shoulder naturally.
"Ethan asked me about the old days today,"
Ryan said,
his voice carrying a slight hint of vulnerability.
Emma shifted,
looking at him with concern,
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him the truth,
or at least,
the version a seven-year-old can understand."
He closed the album,
setting it on the small table between them.
"It made me realize how much time has passed,
and how lucky I am that you didn't leave me in that hospital room."
Emma looked out at the backyard,
where the shadow of the trees was lengthening across the grass.
"I wanted to leave,
Ryan,
more times than you know."
Ryan nodded,
knowing the truth of her words,
never hiding from the reality of his past actions.
"Why didn't you?"
he asked,
asking the question that had lived in his heart for years.
Emma turned her face to him,
her eyes serious,
yet filled with a deep,
abiding love.
"Because the day you came back from Aspen after the accident,
I saw a crack in your armor."
She touched his cheek,
her fingers soft against his jaw.
"For the first time,
I didn't see the businessman who had everything under control,
I saw a man who was terrified of losing his soul."
May you like
She smiled faintly,
"And I decided that man was worth waiting for."
