In the quiet of the evening, as I sat at the kitchen table, the letter in my hand cast a shadow across the otherwise unblemished surface. It was from Jack, my ex, penned in handwriting I recognized all too well from our years together.
A woman’s life was intertwined with that of her ex for nearly two decades. He wasn’t just a partner to her, but someone who made her world complete. By his side, she never questioned her choices, which he always supported, including that of not tying the knot because they didn’t need a peace of paper to determine their relationship and the child-free life they both opted for.
What they had seemed to defied social norms and expectations, but they loved their lifestyle and the future they envisioned together.
Sadly, this woman’s world shattered into pieces when she learned her partner was unfaithful. After everything they shared together, this came as a huge shock she wasn’t ready to get over, so she decided to leave him and start her life over.
The real shock came merely six months after their separation when she learned her ex got married to the woman he had an affair with.
Life, being as unpredictable as it is, led the woman to a new path. She started dating someone else and fell pregnant. Despite the fact they only dated for a short period of time and didn’t know each other well, they decided to accept the challenge and embark the adventure of parenthood.
Luckily, the baby only made their love for one another stronger and their relationship flourished, but her ex’s occasional text messages for birthdays and holidays were a constant reminder of the life she once had with him. She never responded to any of them, and his final message, which was a reaction to the birth of her daughter and was filled with words of accusations and anger and unfounded claims of betrayal was the last she heard of him.
Shortly after, the news of her ex’s tragic passing reached out to her. He was involved in a car accident. Amidst the shock, she learned that his wife was expecting and it only added to the complexity of the already tangled narrative of their past relationship.
The unexpected twist came when a solicitor called her and told her her ex partner, Jack, left everything to her, including his estate.
Inheriting his estate after parting ways and staring their lives over was a huge burden to bear for this woman. Memories, feelings, and questions that she believed were long buried flooded her mind.
She found herself at a crossroad, not sure how this would affect her current relationship. The man she had spent nearly twenty years with made a choice that reached beyond his grave, leaving her puzzled. This decision opened the door to feelings she was not prepared to face.
In the days that followed, she was handed a letter by the solicitor. She recognized the well-known handwriting, but the words written on that piece of paper seemed disproportionate to its size.
He wrote that his marriage to his wife was not born of love but of manipulation and detailed everything about how she seduced him and that the child she was expecting bounded him to her. He detailed that his wife only loved him for his money, and that was the reason he didn’t leave her his estate.
After reading his words and his voice echoing in the room, the woman decided to accept his gift.
She did not attend his funeral, but visited his grave. Standing at his resting place, she whispered words of gratitude and farewell, and a thank you for the love he had given to her.
This, however, still didn’t give her the assurance of whether she did the right thing when she accepted his inheritance not just for her and her family but for the memory of the man who left her everything.
