Chapter 14
The crowd dispersed, leaving quiet in its wake.
Weston took a hesitant step toward me but then pulled back.
This time, unlike the stoic man I once knew, he was tentative, as if afraid of breaking me.
“Can we start over?”
He smiled nervously, eyes weathered and glistening with unshed tears.
Thad asked myself countless times: did Weston ever love me?
Perhaps, in this moment, he did.
But it was too late.
My smile was one of release.
“Weston, let me go. And let yourself go too.”
For a moment, something inside Weston seemed to shatter.
Heimagined Celeste slipping through his fingers, splintering into countless pieces he couldn’t hold.
He thought he should give her space.
There would be another chance. There had to be.
“If you don’t want to see me now, I’ll come another day”
“There’s no need for another day. No next time. No future visits.”
I said it firmly, as if stating an irrefutable fact
Weston realized that no matter how he tried to patch up the heart he had shattered, nothing would ever make it whole again.
From the moment he admitted he loved Celeste, he knew he was also full of holes.
The cold wind cut through him, bleeding him dry.
It hurt. It hurt more than anything.
For the first time, he truly felt the agony of trying to warm a heart that would never be warm again.
As he walked away he glanced back several times.
He almost imagined that Celeste would turn around, arms open, saying, “Let’s be together”
But she didn’t.
She just stood there, the breeze lifting the hem of her dress.
As beautiful as she was when they first met–a work of art he had once shattered.
A piece that could never be put back together.
Weston could only watch as Celeste took Ethan and Lillian’s hands and walked away without looking back.
MO
DOR
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The divorce was finalized quickly, and Weston did not pursue her.
The gentle stream of the countryside continued to flow as Celeste and her children carried on their quiet lives.
Years later, she met someone kind and dependable.
The children adored him, and he treated Celeste like a treasure,
And so, she decided to marry again.
Their life together was harmonious and full of joy.
