That night, I removed the ivory prom dress from the attic permanently.
I hung it inside my bedroom closet.
Not because I was still waiting.
I was not.
The waiting was finally over.
Then I joined Samuel on the porch.
The sun was setting over Bellmere.
He folded his fingers through mine.
“Any regrets?”
I looked at the man I had loved since I was fifteen.
“Only the years.”
Samuel smiled.
“Never the promise?”
“Never the promise.”
His smile was the same one I had memorized as a girl.
The evening was warm.
We had lost fifty-five years.
Nothing could return them.
But whatever hours remained—
