THE LAST PROMISE PART FIVE — THE PROMISE

PART FIVE — THE PROMISE My mother didn't run. She simply stood there. Calm. Almost relieved. “You finally remembered,” she said. I couldn't move. “All these years…” “Yes.” “You knew Elena was alive.” “Yes.” “You knew what happened that night.” “Yes.” “Then why?” She looked at Elena. “Because your father chose her over his family.” Elena stepped forward. “He chose the truth.” My mother laughed softly. “No. He chose you.” She explained everything. My father had discovered that she had been stealing money from the company. Elena had discovered it too. The night of the crash, she followed us. She caused the crash. Then she spent years making sure neither of us could expose her. My father's death eight years later had never been an accident either. My mother had been behind that too. The police eventually arrived. The evidence Elena had collected over twelve years was enough. My mother was arrested that night. And just like that, the mystery that had followed us since we were eighteen finally ended. But endings are strange. Sometimes they don't feel like endings. Sometimes they feel like the beginning of something you were supposed to have years ago. Three months later, Elena and I stood in the same little restaurant where we'd first met. Same table. Same window. Same rain outside. She looked at me. “Do you remember what you promised me?” I smiled. “That if you ever asked me to leave, I wouldn't ask why.” “And did you keep it?” I thought about everything. The lies. The years. The photographs. The crash. The fear. The love. “No.” She smiled. “You didn't.” “I broke the promise.” “Why?” “Because I finally realized something.” “What?” “Some promises are meant to be kept.” I reached across the table and held her hand. “And some are meant to be broken.” She looked at me for a long moment. Then she smiled. “Good.” “Good?” She nodded. “Because I have one more promise to ask you to make.” I laughed. “I'm beginning to hate your promises.” She leaned closer. “Marry me.” I stared at her. “You're supposed to let me ask you.” “I've waited twelve years.” I laughed. Then I stood. I took her hand. And this time, I made a promise without being afraid of what it would cost me. “I will.” Outside, the rain began to fall. The same kind of rain that had fallen the night we first met. Only this time, nobody was waiting for someone to arrive. We were exactly where we were supposed to be. Together. And perhaps that was the strangest thing about our story. We spent twelve years running from the past… only to discover that the past had been trying to bring us back to each other all along. THE END.

The Last Promise

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