His Love Is Not Visible Chapter 31
Back then, I had thought that as long as he was willing to stand beside me, that alone was proof of love.
Patricia said softly, “Laurie, our family let you down.”
I closed the album.
“Mom.”
The word made both of us stop.
I corrected myself at once.
“Patricia, you, Charles, and Walter have always been good to me.”
“What happened between Garrett and me isn’t your fault.”
Her eyes reddened.
“He locks himself in his room and watches the wedding video over and over.”
“He knows now what he did wrong.”
I pushed the jewelry box back toward her.
Inside were the pieces the Bancroft family had given me.
“Please take these back. And the album, too.”
Patricia pressed a hand over the box.
“What was given to you is yours.”
I shook my head.
“Then I’ll only keep what I bought myself.”
In the end, I took only one very ordinary pair of earrings from the box.
They were a birthday present I had bought for myself with my salary in our first year of marriage.
Garrett had been out of town on business that day. He’d forgotten my birthday.
I ate cake alone and told myself he was just too busy with work.
Looking back now, I had been too easy to satisfy.
Before Patricia left, she asked, “You really can’t give him another chance?”
I looked at her.
“After I lost the baby, I ran into Garrett at the hospital while he was taking Vanessa to an appointment.”
“My burn had only just healed.”
“He didn’t know I’d miscarried, and he didn’t know I’d been burned.”
“When I asked for a divorce, all he said was that next time, I should remember to call him.”
Patricia covered her mouth as tears fell.
I handed her a tissue.
“But I did call.”
“So it’s not that I never gave him a chance.”
After she left, I put on the earrings.
The woman in the mirror wasn’t crying.
I returned the things that weren’t mine and kept what truly belonged to me.