“That’s right,” Kevin admitted, his throat tightening at the memory. “And to think we’d only been together a year when she popped the question.”

“It happened on her parents’ farm, right?”

“Yeah. We’d been staying there for the week. It was my first time meeting her folks—never been more nervous in my life. It was the very last day of our trip when she woke me up early, stuck a spade in my hand, and told me she had a surprise waiting outside.”

“Classic Helen.”

“I know. She marched me out to this tree—a huge cottonwood on the edge of their property—then pointed to the ground and said, ‘Start digging.’ Didn’t take me long to find the box with the letter inside.”

“How long had it been buried again?”

“Nine years.”

“Wow. And you still carry it around with you, right?”

Kevin reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and saw the letter peeking out from the main compartment like a small sail, a sliver of yellowish paper with the ghostly strokes of Helen’s handwriting faintly shining through.

“Of course,” he said. “It’s never left my side.”

“I know I’ve told you this before, but my wife always thought your engagement was the most romantic story she’d ever heard. You two were lucky to have found each other.”

Kevin folded the letter and tucked it safely back inside his wallet.

“We were,” he said, bravely trying to mask the scratchy pain in his throat. “Until everything changed. Until I changed.”

“We all change, Kev, sooner or later.”

“No, not all of us. Helen never did. She never lost sight of what was important. She always knew what she wanted, so much so that she wrote a letter to someone she hadn’t even met yet, buried it in the ground, and vowed only to dig it up once she knew she’d found the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. That’s the kind of woman she was. She was always so strong, so incredibly sure of herself. Me on the other hand, sometimes I look in the mirror and don’t even know who I am anymore. Sometimes I feel so far away from where I started, so far from the man I always thought I’d turn out to be. When I agreed to marry Helen, I promised her the world. I promised I would make her proud. But all I ever really did was let her down. And now I’m letting Amy down too.”

“Kev, that’s not true.”

“It sure feels like it. My little girl is all grown up. I was never there when it counted. Now it feels like our relationship is broken beyond repair.”

“Amy loves you. She’s just hurting right now, and she’s gonna need some time to process the loss. You both do.”