and still believed the way it ended mattered more.
Three months later, I moved into the little lake house.
I kept the wooden box on my bedroom dresser.
The brass key still sits inside it, even though I no longer need it.
And whenever I remember Richard saying I would get exactly what I deserved, I finally understand what he meant.
He didn’t leave me his fortune.
He left me a home, a future, and one final reminder that sometimes love can begin for the
wrong reason…
and still become real.
