I never stopped keeping my word.
the military told his parents that he had been declared missing in action.
I believed I’d already lived through the hardest part of loving someone.
I had no idea the cruelest truth was still waiting for me.
One afternoon, my telephone rang while I was still brushing attic dust from my hands.
« You’ve been up there again, haven’t you, » Margaret said.
My older sister always knew.
« It’s spring. I air it out. »
the cruelest truth was still waiting for me.
« It’s been fifty-five years. » Her voice softened into pity. « Waiting for him was admirable once, but it’s time to let the ghost go. You’re seventy-three, not eighteen. »
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