“Good. Because I can’t promise that I ever will.”
I walked out of her bedroom with the envelope in my hand.
Neither of them followed me.
The next morning, I called off the wedding.
I made the announcement to our families myself because I refused to let Daniel invent a more convenient explanation.
I didn’t tell everyone every detail. Some truths were too painful to turn into gossip.
I simply said that I had discovered serious dishonesty in my relationship and could no longer marry him.
The calls began almost immediately.
Some relatives urged me to reconsider. Others told me that my mother had made a terrible mistake but that family should always come first.
One aunt even suggested that perhaps my mother and Daniel were meant to be together, since they had loved each other first.
I ended that conversation before she could finish.
Their history was not a claim on my future.
