“‘I don’t want to get involved in a relationship with you until she is out of the picture,’ I told him. I asked him outright, ‘Is there anything I should be worried about?’ He reassured me, ‘no.’ I could see there was something on his mind. Nothing prepared me for what followed.”
‘I lied to you,’ my fiancé said. ‘It has all been a lie.’ I felt sick to my stomach. He told me there had been another incident with the woman from work. Turns out, that was the LEAST of my problems.’
‘Slightly panicked, I asked where she’d like to go for the first date. Anywhere in the city. ‘Steak-n-Shake. I want you to see me in all my glory,’ she replied. That’s when I truly started to fall in love.’
“I like to think I am funny, so I used the movie quote, ‘My idea of a perfect date is April 25th…’ I truly thought nothing more of it, until a few days later, when she matched with me. She sent me a message to my Tinder inbox. ‘Because it’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light Jacket.’ I was surprised.”
‘This was our secret. How do you tell people something this big, but also tell them in the same breath it’s not a thing anymore, and also that you have no answers or explanations? So, we didn’t.’
“He instructed me to go home, and come back in a week to find out. There are no words to describe what it is like to drive around, go to the grocery store, go to work, etc. and wonder if today will be the day.”
‘The first thing he wrote down was, ‘Was it my fault?’ I ran out of the room to get his mom. We all took a deep breath.’
“His coworker saw one of their work trucks in a bad accident on the highway. My heart started to race, and I frantically continued to call Brian over and over again. Still no answer.”
‘Today was supposed to be the best day of my life. I was supposed to wake up, put on my wedding dress and walk down the aisle to the man of my dreams.’
“He was only two streets away from home. Today I will not have a husband… because a person made a choice that has forever changed my life.”
‘Their engagement ended, and he had an extra 6 months to look forward to in the jungle. He is a Vietnam Veteran. He is tougher than nails. He is often on the verge of tears.’
“His sister was enjoying the freedom that came with being a hippie. He went to her home, in uniform. That day, she overdosed on drugs. When the ambulance came, she looked at him and said, ‘I wish you had been killed over there.’”
‘His mommy issues consumed him. He got involved with women who resembled his mother. He was in a dark, dark place. He looked for a way out of that pain, and what he found, was heroin.’
“He was sneaky, and he didn’t like to be told what to do. He loved me more than anything. He was so, so proud to have finally ‘conquered me,’ as he would say. But that love wasn’t enough.”
‘I play out the details of that final weekend in my head. Struck by how quickly it was all over. Just like that, she was gone. Gone forever.’
“It intensifies on November 8th. That is the day my soulmate came home for Veterans Day weekend. It was a Thursday evening, as it is this year. She kissed me goodbye, then my life was turned upside down.”
‘He was a volunteer firefighter. He received a call after I left about an accident about a mile from his house. He decided to go – that’s just the person he is.’
“He was hit by another alleged drunk driver, who was also a volunteer firefighter arriving to the scene.”
I called my fiancé in tears after the ambulance arrived. ‘I don’t know if we’re going to make it to Ohio –You may be at our engagement party alone.’
“That morning, instead of being awoken by my alarm, I was awoken by my mother’s voice on the phone. ‘He passed out, and we can’t get him up. His fever is 105 and he’s in and out of consciousness.’”
