Chapter 18 - No More Secrets
Cassidy kept a box in her closet.
Inside were ultrasound photographs.
Hospital bracelets.
Three newborn hats.
And letters.
Letters she had written to Declan but never sent.
He found the box only because Cassidy handed it to him.
“I think these belong to you too.”
Declan opened the first letter.
Dear Declan, today I learned there are three heartbeats.
He stopped.
Cassidy sat beside him.
“You don't have to read them now.”
“I do.”
He read every one.
The letter after Lily first walked.
The letter after Emma said “Mama.”
The letter describing Grace's first tooth.
Cassidy had written to him through all the years she claimed she had stopped thinking about him.
When he finished, tears covered his face.
“I missed everything.”
“You missed the beginning.”
Cassidy took his hand.
“You don't have to miss the rest.”
Declan looked toward the hallway.
Three girls were whispering outside the door.
He smiled through his tears.
“No more secrets?”
Cassidy nodded.
“No more secrets.”
The bedroom door flew open.
“We weren't listening!” Lily announced.
“Obviously,” Declan said.
They piled onto the bed.
Cassidy looked around at them.
For years she believed the secret had protected her family.
Perhaps it had.
But now truth was doing something stronger.
It was rebuilding it.
May you like
And tomorrow, surrounded by the people who had witnessed both their mistakes and their transformation, Cassidy and Declan would marry again.
This time, they would know exactly what they were promising.
