Now I realized something strange.
Losing the person I thought he was had hurt.
But discovering who he actually was had saved me.
If Adrian had really died, I might have spent years idealizing him.
I might have remembered only the good.
I might have blamed myself for not being there.
I might have wondered forever whether we could have had a perfect marriage.
Now I knew.
I had almost married a man capable of erasing himself, lying to everyone he loved, letting his own fiancée mourn him, and then walking down the aisle with someone else.
That knowledge hurt.
But it was also a kind of freedom.
I looked at him one final time.
“You know what the worst part is?”
He stared at me.
“For months, I thought losing you destroyed my life.”
He started crying again.
“But now I realize it saved me.”
He looked down.
I turned away.
Sarah walked over to her father.
He immediately put an arm around her.
Colleen remained against the wall, sobbing.
Adrian stayed where he was.
Alone.
Still wearing the suit he had once intended to wear for me.
Only this time, there was no wedding waiting for him.
The Unexpected Ending
I thought leaving that venue would be the end of the story.
It wasn't.
Three days later, my assistant called me.
She sounded nervous.
“I don't know whether I should tell you this.”
“What?”
“There was a package delivered for you.”
I asked what it was.
She told me it had been sent anonymously.
I almost threw it away.
Then she mentioned that it contained something from Adrian.
I didn't want anything from him.
Still, curiosity won.
Inside the package was an envelope.
I opened it.
There was no long apology.
No plea for forgiveness.
Just a photograph.
It was a picture of me and Adrian from the day we got engaged.
We were laughing.