My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 26
When I opened the box, the wedding shoes were inside.
A film of dust coated the uppers, and a few threads had come loose at the seams.
I stared at them for a long time before I reached out and took the box.
I had waited for these shoes for years.
But when the day finally came, Rafael had given them to someone else.
“Margot threw them away at the hospital,” Mrs. Romano said, her gaze fixed on the ground. “Rafael went back for them. He kept them in his closet ever since.”
“Before he died, he would just hold this box and say over and over that if he hadn’t given the shoes to the wrong person, maybe things would have been different.”
I didn’t answer.
It was never just about the shoes.
Mrs. Romano’s tears finally spilled over.
“Helena, I wronged you, too.”
“That orange juice… Rafael told me to do it, and I did.”
“I just wanted to help him. I thought, Mr. Hawthorne is so old, you could endure it for a year or two and then come back. I never thought about how scared you must have been.”
As she spoke, she swayed on her feet.
I reached out to steady her.
She immediately grabbed my hand, a desperate hope in her eyes.
“Helena, can you forgive me?”
“No.”
Her face froze.
“I helped you because you took me in when I had nowhere else to go. And returning these shoes was the right thing to do.”
“But the moment you handed me that glass of orange juice, the debt between us was settled.”
Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her tears fell harder.
“Helena, I really am sorry.”
“You’re sorry now,” I said, slowly pulling my hand away. “But it’s too late.”
Holding the box, I turned and went inside. I didn’t look back.
Some things can be returned to their owner.
Some things, once broken, can never be repaired.