“Why?”
“He believed he would become a burden to your mother. He asked me to return her engagement ring and tell her he no longer wanted to marry her.”
I looked at the red box.
“And you did that?”
“No. I went to Linda and told her the truth. She refused to abandon my brother.”
My uncle pointed to the photographs.
“These were taken on the day your mother completed a volunteer caregiving course at the hospital. She wanted to help Daniel recover. I was
the one who accompanied her.”
“But why did Dad think you betrayed him?”
Richard smiled sadly.
“Because I didn’t do what he asked. He had ordered me to return the ring. Instead, I kept it and helped Linda visit him every day. When my brother discovered that we had gone behind his back, he refused to speak to me for a long time.”
I looked at the ring.
“But they eventually got married. Why have you kept it all these years?”
Richard’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because this isn’t the old ring.”
He turned it over.
Engraved inside were the words:
“Linda and Daniel. 50 Years Together.”
I held my breath.
“Next month is their fiftieth wedding anniversary?”
“Yes. I’ve been saving money for the past two years to organize the wedding they were robbed of all those years ago. Your mother knows about it. She’s even ordered a new
white dress.”
I covered my mouth.
“You mean you want them to get married again?”
“I want my brother to finally understand that his accident didn’t take everything away from us. On the contrary, it showed us just how powerful love can be.”
At that moment, the bedroom door opened.
My father was standing in the doorway.
His eyes immediately fell on the open suitcase.
“Richard… you told her?”
My uncle went pale.
“Daniel, I can explain.”
But suddenly, my father smiled.
“I asked you to wait until next week.”
I stared at him in confusion.
“Dad, you knew?”
My father approached me.
“About the ring, yes. But your uncle doesn’t know that I’ve prepared a surprise of my own.”
He pulled an envelope from his pocket.
Inside were two plane tickets.
