Olivia did not return Ethan\u2019s ring immediately.<\/p>\n
For several days, she carried it in the small pocket of her purse, wrapped in a tissue.<\/p>\n
She said she was not ready to look at it.<\/p>\n
I did not ask her to explain.<\/p>\n
One evening, she came into the kitchen while I was rinsing a mug.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep thinking about the wedding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat part?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parts we planned. The flowers. The music. The house we thought we\u2019d buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
I set the mug in the rack.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can grieve those things without choosing the marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sat at the table and opened her purse.<\/p>\n
The ring was still wrapped in tissue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to hate him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to hate his father either.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to do that, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at the ring for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t want to spend my life explaining why I deserve to be treated decently.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pulled out the chair beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good thing to know before you marry someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
She closed the tissue around the ring again.<\/p>\n
The next morning, she asked Ethan to meet her at a caf\u00e9 near her office.<\/p>\n
I did not go with her.<\/p>\n
When she returned, she placed the ring on the kitchen counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave it back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him I couldn\u2019t marry someone who expected me to pretend his father\u2019s behavior was normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did he take it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe cried.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked tired, but her voice was steady.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cried too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reached for her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
She leaned against the counter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he would have done things differently if he\u2019d known how much it would hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe he wishes the night had gone differently. I don\u2019t know if he understands why.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was enough for that day.<\/p>\n
At work, the assessment moved into its final phase. I signed the readiness recommendations and reviewed the operational gaps that had nothing to do with Richard.<\/p>\n
The panel continued its investigation without my involvement.<\/p>\n
When the report was finally submitted for review, I received only the portions I was authorized to see.<\/p>\n
The findings were not mine to shape.<\/p>\n
I read the official summary once, then closed it.<\/p>\n
There was no satisfaction in the fact that the inquiry had moved forward.<\/p>\n
Only a sense that the process had done what it was supposed to do.<\/p>\n
At home, Olivia began clearing the small shelf where she had kept wedding catalogs.<\/p>\n
She did it slowly, one stack at a time.<\/p>\n
She kept a folded list of songs she had wanted at the reception.<\/p>\n
She threw away the seating chart.<\/p>\n
When she reached the bottom of the shelf, she sat on the floor and laughed once, without humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I\u2019d be married by now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought you\u2019d be married to Ethan by now.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She leaned her head against the cabinet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, she sounded like she believed it.<\/p>\n
Source: kaylestore.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Olivia did not return Ethan\u2019s ring immediately. For several days, she carried it in the small pocket of her purse, wrapped in a tissue. She said she was not ready … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10721,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10708\/revisions\/10721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nClick here to continue reading: PART 12: What the Record Could Prove<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"