I felt sick.
“Then why did you keep it?”
He looked into my eyes.
“Because I wanted to remember the price she thought she could put on our love.”
My mother began crying.
“Olivia, I watched your father work himself into exhaustion trying to save that house. I couldn’t bear the thought of you suffering the way I did.”
I remembered our wedding reception.
Her cruel toast.
The smile on her face as she predicted our marriage would fail.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
“You said we wouldn’t last a year because Ethan had already refused your money, didn’t you?”
Mom said nothing.
Her silence was answer enough.
I pulled my hand away from Ethan.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He looked devastated.
“Because you loved your mother.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“I know.”
He lowered his eyes.
“Liv, you’d already lost your father. I didn’t want to be the reason you lost your mother too.”
