She continued, “We were relocated across town and then something happened…” Her voice trailed off, breaking. “I really wanted to look for you, but I didn’t have the strength to.”
Daniel closed his eyes for a moment, thinking of a different street, a different neighborhood — a small logistical change that had ensured she never received his letters.
But she had known where he lived.
Why hadn’t she reached out? What was the “something” that happened?
“You can tell me anything, Catherine. I have loved you for six decades and never stopped,” he said, cupping her hands. “What happened?”
Tears streamed down her face, and Daniel’s heart ached just seeing her so emotional.
“Our baby died,” she whispered.
The words hit Daniel harder than anything before. Their baby? Memories of their passionate night together on prom night came rushing back, and Daniel realized that Catherine had become pregnant.
“I didn’t know,” he gasped.
“How could you? I never told you. I wanted to when I found out, but my mom said that since you hadn’t tried to find me, you wouldn’t care.”
“And you believed her? I would have always cared for you,” he said, his voice breaking. “And for our baby.”
“I believed my mom that you wouldn’t care when I never heard from you,” she recounted.
He admitted, “I thought of coming to your city to look for you, but I was so confused. I thought the silence meant you didn’t love me anymore.”
“I love you, Daniel. I also love our baby, whom I named Lara. She never breathed this world’s air,” she said.
The statement hit Daniel even harder; he was so shattered he didn’t know what to say.
“When I was six months pregnant, I lost her due to a placental abruption. It was a miracle I survived,” she recalled.
“I am so sorry, Catherine. I would have been there for you and for our baby. I would have,” he said, mourning the child he never got to meet.
“I know now… I can still feel the love, but then I was so lost. I tried to carry on with life. I found someone who understood my pain, Mark, and I married him. But I never stopped loving you,” she said.
Daniel’s heart broke even more, knowing she had been out there all these years and that if he had tried harder, he might have found her.
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