any guests.
I found him in his study.
He was wearing a dark suit.
And for the first time, he looked nervous.
“Are you expecting guests?” I asked.
“Not exactly.”
He asked me to sit.
Then something happened that I never could have predicted.
Richard slowly lowered himself onto one knee.
My heart stopped.
“Nora,” he said, “I know I’m much older than you. Maybe you’ll laugh at me. But I don’t want to pretend anymore.”
He took a breath.
“I’ve fallen in love with you.”
I stared at him.
Then he asked me to marry him.
He was 72.
I was 35.
But I thought about Emily.
A safe home.
Good schools.
No eviction notices.
No wondering where we’d sleep.
Richard could give my daughter everything I couldn’t.
So I said yes.
For the next five years, I waited for the price of my decision to reveal itself.
It
