Chapter 24
The crazed Tyler Horton, showing no fear, slammed headlong into the fully loaded truck,
His car’s front end crumpled instantly against the truck’s cab.
I saw bright red blood pooling on the ground, quickly washed away by the torrential rain.
Jeff called the police.
In the endless downpour, we waited in silence inside our car.
Half an hour later, police, firefighters, and an ambulance arrived simultaneously,
They rescued the unconscious truck driver quickly, but it took nearly an hour to pry open the mangled car and drag out Tyler Horton’s lifeless body.
The rain had lightened.
I sat in the car, watching Tyler’s bloody, mutilated corpse, and suddenly I couldn’t stop
retching.
Tyler Horton was dead.
Despite imagining countless times how I’d send him to hell, he really died right in front of
me–abruptly, bloodily.
This man who had been part of my life for over twenty years, whom I had loved
wholeheartedly for ten years, who then pushed me into the depths of suffering-
4
He was gone.
Jeff and I gave our statements to the police. An hour later, the officer waved us off to leave.
The rain had stopped.
Jeff rolled down the window slightly. The mountain breeze was chilly.
We started the car again, heading back into the city.
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He Forgot It, He Regreted It
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Chapter 24
This time, we drove at a leisurely pace.
Leaving the clamor behind, Jeff kept one hand on the wheel and reached out with the other
to hold mine, “Elizabeth, don’t be afraid.”
I clenched my teeth, silent.
“Cry if you want to,” Jeff said softly.
Take a lost child finally comforted by a grown–up, I burst into tears.
All my panic, confusion, love, and hate poured out in sobs and tears.
I didn’t open the door. Instead, I pressed my phone against it and tapped the record button.
The sun emerged from the dissipating clouds, spilling radiant light.
Up ahead, a wide rainbow arched across the mountains.
Jeff slowed the car, and we drifted through the indescribable beauty.
“Elizabeth?”
I turned to him, “What?”
“I’d like to stop the car.”
“Go ahead.”
The car rolled to a gentle stop.
Jeff unfastened his seatbelt, leaned over, and gave me a tender kiss.
I froze for a second.
He was still damp from the rain, even after two hours. His hair and shirt remained damp, clinging to him.
But under the rainbow, he looked like a god descended to earth, impossibly handsome.
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He Forgot It, He Regreted It
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Chapter 24
He took my hand.
Behind his glasses, his gaze was deep and earnest as he looked at me:
“I feel the vows at our wedding weren’t enough to convey my feelings, so I’ll say it again
now.”
His eyes brimmed with genuine warmth:
rom this day forward, I will never let you be harmed again.”
“I swear it on my
life.”
I blinked, and a single tear slid down my cheek.
I leaned in and kissed him first:
“So will I.”
L
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He Forgot It, He Regreted It
