plate, snapping it and letting it flutter out in the air for just a
second before it rested on her knees. She went to grasp one of
the many dishes on the table, but Emily’s look stopped her.
“You can, Mom,” Emily said softly. “And I do. You can
know after just a few days that someone is special. That what
they have is different, and that what you have together is a
great and rare thing. I could let it go. I could move on. I think
Dani could probably do that too. Maybe. I don’t know.
Honestly, I think we’d both spend the rest of our lives thinking
about each other, wondering if we let that one special person
get away. There might be other loves. We might even be happy
with other people. I’m not trying to pretend that I’m buying
into the sappy romantic notions that books and movies sell. I
am being real. I know we have every odd stacked against us. I
know that a relationship coming out of an agreement is strange
and kind of crazy, but I also know I’m not going to throw it
&
nbsp; away. People meet for a reason, and right now, she’s that
reason. I know I started all of this. I’ve made a huge mess of
something that was supposed to be quickly resolved.”
Emily held out her hand and slipped the ring off. She set it
down on the table beside her plate. “We’ll get an annulment.
We’ll date like most other people do. Dani is fascinating. She’s
a beautiful person; funny, kind, tougher than you could ever
believe, compassionate, inventive, entrepreneurial. She’s all of
those things and a thousand more and I want to dedicate the
time and effort it takes to actually getting to discover every bit
of her that I don’t know yet. I know we have a long way to go
and that if we make it, everyone will talk about our crazy
beginning forever, but I’m not giving her up.”