Chapter 8
Maxwell had become so compliant, so different from the man I had known. If it weren’t for the sincerity in his eyes, I might have believed the man who had been by my side for five years was nothing but a lie.
As we were leaving Queenstown, Maxwell suddenly stopped my RV.
He knelt before me, holding a diamond ring that gleamed so brightly it almost blinded me.
“Grace, I love you,” he said, his voice filled with emotion. “I want to be with you. forever. Will you marry me and be my wife?”
A heavy sigh escaped me.
I had waited for those words for five years. But even as I stood there, ready to leave it all behind, I realized they no longer held the same meaning.
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If he had proposed three months ago, I would have accepted without a second thought, eager to become his most beautiful bride.
But not anymore.
“I don’t want it,” I said quietly.
Maxwell slowly rose to his feet, his gaze dimming, the light in his eyes flickering before it extinguished entirely.
“Why?” His voice was strained. “Is it because of Emily? I’ve already driven her away.”
“I know.everything,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm inside me. “Emily deliberately put pollen in the pocket of her ski suit and used an asthma attack to frame
you.”
I paused, watching his reaction, then. continued, “She also said a lot of hurtful things in front of your sister’s grave.”
Maxwell’s face twisted in regret. “It’s my
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fault. I shouldn’t have trusted her, misunderstood you, and hurt you. You can hit me, scold me–anything. As long as you forgive me and stay with me, I’m willing to do anything.”
I cut him off, my voice calm but firm. “It’s not because of Emily.”
“Then what is it?” His fist hit his chest in frustration. “Is it because of your sister?”
I looked at him, my heart heavy. “I admit it. When we first got together, it was because you looked exactly like her.”
I could see the guilt in his eyes, and I knew he could sense where this was going. “I always thought of you as a substitute for Charlotte. From the beginning, I only loved her.”
Maxwell’s hands gripped my shoulders, his voice desperate. “Grace, you‘ ve been with me for five years, and I didn‘ t understand my feelings for you. But when you left, my heart broke. That’s when I
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realized–I’ve loved you all along. I just didn’t know it.”
I pushed him away gently, sighing softly, my voice barely above a whisper. “It’s not about my sister.”
“I understand,” he said, his face showing a mix of sorrow and resignation.
Before I could stop him, he slapped himself more than ten times in quick succession, his hand leaving marks on his face with
each strike.
“I shouldn’t have disliked you,” he muttered. “I shouldn’t have hit you, shouldn’t have used the booster valve to pour cold water on you… Why am I such a jerk? Hurting you again and again? You‘ re the one I’ve always loved, Grace. You‘ re my everything.”
The breeze fluttered around us, and for the first time, my heart felt calm. “I forgive
you.”
Maxwell’s eyes lit up, hope reigniting in
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his chest. But then, his expression faltered as I remained distant, almost detached.
“Then why?” His voice was barely a whisper, as if afraid of the answer.
I sighed, exhausted by the entanglement of emotions. I had to reveal the truth, the final piece that might make him
understand.
When I handed him the miscarriage diagnosis report, his face went pale.
“This… this is our child? When–when did
he…?”
I spoke softly, as though recounting someone else’s story. “On the day of the earthquake, I was pushed down by the crowd and miscarried.”
His eyes widened in shock, but I didn’t let him speak. “You passed by me, holding Emily’s hand, without even looking at
me.”
The weight of my words hit him like a physical blow. “Maxwell, you owe me a life.
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But I forgave you… and I’ve let it go.”
Despair washed over him, and I saw his heart crumble before me.
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