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“But you promised,” I whispered in defeat, eyes rimmed red and rosy cheeks sticky with tears. “You… you said you’d stay, Rhett. That… that you’d never leave me.” I fidgeted with my hands as I stared at the faded blue flannel on his arm, my face a mixture of pain and distress. “Please, Rhett, you- you can’t leave me. I love you so much it hurts,” I cried softly. I could feel his gaze burning into my face, but I couldn’t look at him, I was repulsed in such a state.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, peach. I love you, I do, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t- I can’t just watch you hurtin’ because of me, ‘cause I can’t be the man you need me to be,” Rhett said lowly.
A fresh, steady stream of tears began to flow as the tightening in my chest grew overbearing. I sat at the edge of the bed, our bed, as my breath caught in my throat. Rhett sat next to me, already rubbing circles on my back as he helped me breathe through the panic, the gasps, the sobs of dread settling in for the final time.
I grasped at the sheets as the grief wracked through my body, the entire world feeling like it was crashing down. Rhett’s own tears fell and he quickly wiped them away before tugging me to his chest, shushing me, trying to comfort me as he’d done time and time before. The finality sets, the occasional hiccup, the desperate clutching of fabric, the knowing that what once was, was over.
I laid my ear over his heart, the soft beats of the life that loved me, that held me, that was once mine ending in this note.
“I’m sorry,” Rhett murmured through the quiet.
For once, I don’t forgive him.