Cora woke up that Valentine\u2019s Day unusually cheerful. As she tidied the living room, she found herself humming under her breath, feeling warm and light. She\u2019d planned something special\u2014nothing extravagant, just thoughtful. A little celebration to remind Eric that love still lived in the corners of their busy, stressful lives.<\/p>\n
She wore a red dress. It wasn\u2019t new. In fact, it was the same one Eric had gifted her for their first anniversary. It didn\u2019t matter that it was slightly faded. It mattered that it still fit, still held memories.<\/p>\n
The table was set with care: a heart-shaped red velvet cheesecake, Eric\u2019s favorite, a few simple dishes she\u2019d made with whatever they had in the kitchen, and a modest gift box wrapped with a ribbon she\u2019d found tucked in the back of the junk drawer. She even lit candles and hung fairy lights. A cozy, imperfect kind of romantic.<\/p>\n
When the doorbell rang, she grinned, already imagining the way Eric\u2019s face would light up.<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
He stepped in, took one sweeping look around the room, and frowned. \u201cWhat on Earth is all this? Are we teenagers now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cora\u2019s heart fell. \u201cIt\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day,\u201d she said softly. \u201cI just wanted to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
He cut her off, flicking the light switch on. \u201cYou\u2019ve wasted money on this nonsense?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t spend much. Just a few ingredients. And I wore the dress you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis? You call this food?\u201d He tasted the spaghetti and spat it out. \u201cIs that soap in the sauce?\u201d<\/p>\n
Cora flinched. \u201cEric, please, the babies are asleep\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course they are. All you do is sit here all day playing house while I break my back working. And now you want applause for lighting candles and burning spaghetti?\u201d<\/p>\n
He spotted the gift, picked it up, and tossed it aside. \u201cA gift? Really? What am I, twelve?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her throat burned. \u201cYou\u2019re being cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t stop. \u201cCruel? You should see the kitchen. Piled with dirty dishes while you were setting up this\u2026 charade.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stormed to the kids\u2019 room, not trusting herself to respond. The triplets had woken up, crying softly. She realized then they were out of diapers.<\/p>\n
She returned to the living room, her jaw tight. \u201cI\u2019m going to the store,\u201d she said, grabbing her coat. \u201cWatch the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course. Run off now. Add that to your long list of accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n
She slammed the door behind her.<\/p>\n
Time passed. The crying didn\u2019t stop. Eric paced, growing more irritated. \u201cWhere the hell is she?\u201d<\/p>\n
When the doorbell rang again, he opened it ready to snap.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t Cora.<\/p>\n
It was a police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you Mr. Hastings?\u201d he asked quietly.<\/p>\n
Eric nodded, confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry\u2026 there was an accident. A car. Your wife\u2026 she didn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words didn\u2019t sink in at first. Eric just stared at the officer\u2019s mouth, as if the sentence would change. But it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
That night, he stood alone in the living room, surrounded by flickering candles and fairy lights, the table still set for two.<\/p>\n
His eyes fell on the gift box he\u2019d tossed aside. He picked it up, hands trembling, and unwrapped it.<\/p>\n
Inside, he found a letter and two plane tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the love of my life, Eric,<\/p>\n
Happy Valentine\u2019s Day, honey!! Guess what\u2014I got a job! I know how hard you\u2019ve been working and how tired you\u2019ve been. I wanted to help. Mrs. Nelson offered to watch the babies during the day. So now you can rest a little.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not all\u2014I used my first paycheck to book us a vacation. Just the two of us. Hawaii! You always said you wanted to see the ocean.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more, but I\u2019ll save the rest for the trip. I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eric sat down, gripping the letter as his body shook with silent sobs.<\/p>\n
He never went to Hawaii. Never opened the wine. Never lit candles again.<\/p>\n
He raised their children with quiet dedication, and every year on Valentine\u2019s Day, he visits her grave. He reads her letter out loud. He tells her about the kids, about work, about the things he wishes he\u2019d said.<\/p>\n
And when no one\u2019s listening, he whispers the words he didn\u2019t say in time:
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry. I see it now. I see you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cora woke up that Valentine\u2019s Day unusually cheerful. As she tidied the living room, she found herself humming under her breath, feeling warm and light. She\u2019d planned… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topdailystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}