“I know.”
Marriage
“He must have thought—”
“He knew exactly what you would say.”
The lawyer handed me one final note.
Only three lines were written on it.
“If you refuse the money because you think it is payment for marrying me, then give it away.
But please don’t refuse the truth.
Your father saved my life, and you made the end of that life less lonely.”
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I pressed the note against my chest.
For the first time since Daniel’s funeral, I understood why he had looked so happy during our tiny wedding.
It wasn’t because he had tricked me into becoming his wife.
It wasn’t because of the money.
It was because, for ten days, he finally felt connected to the family he had spent his entire adult life quietly protecting.
A week later, I visited my mother.
Funeral & Bereavement
I placed Daniel’s letter on her kitchen table.
She read the first page and immediately began crying.
