Chapter 27
“That’s because… because Heather threatened to kill herself, right?”
Daisy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. It was a hollow curve, her gaze distant and cold.
“Desmond, you can lie to everyone else. But what about yourself? Can you really lie to your own heart?”
Her voice was quiet, but sharp as glass.
“Can you honestly say you never had feelings for Heather?”
Desmond’s eyes faltered. He couldn’t hold her gaze.
After all those years with Heather, he couldn’t deny it, not anymore. He had developed feelings for her. That was the truth. And that was the reason why his love for Daisy had always come with hesitation, why their engagement had fallen apart time and time again.
“Daisy… I was wrong.”
His voice cracked, rough with emotion. He had no defenses left under her knowing stare.
“I cared about Heather, I won’t deny that. But now I see it clearly.
The one I truly love… the one I want to marry… is you. Not her.”
He reached for her, desperate.
“Daisy, now that you’ve married Gordon just to get back at me… can we call it even?”
Daisy didn’t even blink.
“I didn’t marry someone else to spite you, Desmond.”
His breath caught. He stared at her like he’d just been slapped.
“Don’t tell me you married Gordon because you love him.”
His voice was laced with disbelief.
“You barely know him.”
“We’ve known each other for over twenty years,” she replied calmly.
Desmond’s expression twisted. “So what, Daisy? You’re really willing to marry a man you don’t even love, just to erase me?”
Daisy had only come outside today for one reason, to end things once and for all. To make it clear that Desmond no longer had a place in her life.
And the look in her eyes made that crystal clear.
“I may not love Gordon yet,” she said, voice even. “But I will.”
Then she looked him dead in the eye.
“And you… you’ll never be the one I choose.”
The words cut like a blade.
“If I could go back in time,” she added, her voice barely above a whisper, “I would never have pulled you out of that wreck.”
Then she turned and walked away.
Desmond stood frozen, as if the cold wind had stripped the soul right out of him. He didn’t chase after her. He couldn’t. Because this time, she was really gone.
The next time Daisy saw him, he came bearing a message.
“It’s from Hannah,” he said quietly. “Your mother’s health is failing. The doctors say… it could be any day now. She wants to see you.”
Daisy’s reply was immediate.
“No.”
And so, Hannah passed with her bitterness intact, carrying her grudge to the grave.
When Daisy got the news, one lone tear slid down her cheek and dropped onto the page she was reading. She didn’t sob. She didn’t break.
She just wiped it away, turned the page, and somehow… it felt like she was starting a new chapter.
Two years later, Daisy and Gordon finally admitted what had been growing between them all along. On the day their child was born, across town, Desmond drank himself numb, got behind the wheel, and drove off a cliff.
In his final moments, his hand stretched out, reaching toward Portland.
“I’m giving my life back to you,” he whispered into the dark.
“Will you turn back… and look at me?”
But she never did.
(The End)
