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“But some things haven’t changed, have they?” She gestured to his computer. “You’re still working way more than you should considering you haven’t been cleared to return to work. You were already stressed about the law firm’s finances, and now the wedding expenses are stressing you out.”
“I’m not—“
“I saw the panic in your eyes when I showed you what we owed.”
He scratched the back of his head. “We could ask my dad for a loan—“
“You can’t be serious.” Without another word, she grabbed her purse.
“Where are you going?”
“Home. This conversation is over.”
“Come on. Be reasonable.” He tried to grasp her arm, but she backed away.
”I am being reasonable. Do you really believe it’s appropriate to ask your father for money after he just paid for your two-week stay in the rehab facility? He’s retired and on a fixed income. He can’t afford to throw more money at our financial problems.”
With that, she turned and fled the house. She jumped into her car and took off, wanting to put as much distance between her and Steven as possible.
Instead of going to her condo, Rose parked by the pond nearby. She breathed in the thick summer air and walked down to the water’s edge. Ducks swam near the shoreline, and a lone swan circled near the center. A commotion on the other side of the pond caught her attention, and she hurried over, worried something had happened to half of her favorite bird couple.
Two men were trying to wrangle the swan into a cage but were having quite the time of it. As she approached, the swan was clearly fighting, though it favored one leg over the other.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
One of the men coaxed the swan into the cage while the other shut the door. The swan settled into the corner, hissing at its captors.
“This one broke its leg,” the man who had shut the door said. He lifted his baseball cap, revealing a bald head, and wiped it with a handkerchief. “We’re taking it to a wildlife rehabilitation center where they can set the leg and allow it to heal.”
“But we had a time getting it away from its mate,” the other man said, wiping his face on his shirt sleeve. He nodded at the remaining swan. It looked lonesome out there on its own.
“Will it be okay without its mate?” Rose asked. She couldn’t help comparing their situation to her own.
“Should be,” the bald man said. “But swans are one of the few bird species that mate for life. She may grieve as if he’s died. We’ll keep an eye on her, though, and make sure she takes care of herself for when he returns.”
“And when will that be?” Rose asked, unable to hide her interest.
The men exchanged a look, then the bald one shrugged. “Hard to say.” He inclined his head toward the cluster of buildings where her condo was. “You live around here?”
She nodded, hoping she wouldn’t regret revealing that information to strangers.
“We’ll let you know how the male gets on,” he promised with a smile. “And you’ll definitely want to be here when they’re reunited.”
Cocking her head, she frowned. “Why’s that?”
The other man just laughed. “You’ll have to see for yourself.”
They loaded the swan’s cage into the truck bed and secured it before climbing in and driving away. Rose watched until the truck had driven out of sight before closing her eyes and sending up a short prayer for the swans.
Her earlier anger had dissipated, and she felt hollow. With a heavy heart, she turned and walked to her condo.
When Rose finally checked her phone later that evening, she was surprised to find only two texts and one voicemail. Steven’s messages were full of apologies and his insistence that he would be fine. But she’d meant what she’d said about not wanting to be a widow before she’d even had a chance to be a wife. And Steven could wax poetic all he wanted about his dietary changes; the real crux of the issue was the stress load on his heart.
This isn’t how I imagined my life when Steven asked me to move to Cedar Haven. It always seemed like something new came up just as she thought they were finally moving forward.
Did I make a mistake? After working for a few years in Baltimore, she’d received a job offer at a prestigious hospital in Boston. But when Steven had learned of his mother’s cancer diagnosis, he decided to open a practice in his hometown to be closer to her.
So Rose gave up her dream of Boston and found a position at the small hospital in the middle of nowhere. Of course, there were many things she loved about the town. The hospital’s size allowed her to have closer relationships with her patients. She’d become more active in the community, and she had found a best friend in her future sister-in-law. Most importantly, she had Steven.
