Half My Life Was the Price of His Love

When Horace fell ill all those years ago, every hospital wrote him off as a dead man.

But I refused to accept it. I begged doctors everywhere, prayed to every god I could find.

I walked endless roads and bowed my head until my forehead was raw, and at last I bought him one slim chance at life.

After that, I held everything in heaven and earth in reverence.

Anything that might do him good, I was always willing to try.

And he used that love of mine.

Again and again, he toyed with me like something in the palm of his hand.

Now the last of my stubborn hope drifted off like smoke.

I lifted a hand to wipe my tears and said quietly,

"Dad, let's call off the engagement."

"The one who'll be struck down by heaven for breaking the vow isn't me."

When he heard that, my father stopped pushing.

"All right. As long as you've thought it through for yourself."

"Don't worry about who you'll marry. Dad will find someone for you from the village."

"They're all boys I've watched grow up. More reliable than Horace!"

I murmured my agreement and hung up.

If the engagement was about to be broken, there was no reason for me to stay in the Gilbert house any longer.

I packed a few things and planned to leave at first light.

I had just fallen asleep when a phone call jolted me awake.

"Melinda, I went looking for spring water and got lost up in the hills."

"You're a mountain girl, you know the land. Come get me and bring me back, now!"

My stomach dropped.

Then Lillian's voice came through the line.

"How long do you think it'll take Melinda to come this time? I bet two hours."

"It won't take that long. With how much Melinda dotes on Horace, half an hour at most. A bet's a bet, Lillian, and if you lose, you owe Horace that striptease, like we agreed."

So it was another of Horace's little games to torment me.

Only this time, he'd forgotten to hang up in time.

And I didn't go rushing off the way I always had.

I put the phone on silent and went back to sleep.

In the gray light of dawn, someone yanked the covers off me.

Horace stood there glaring, his face dark with fury.

"Why didn't you come for me last night?"

"Do you have any idea that I lost the bet… do you have any idea how long I wandered around in those hills?"

"I nearly died out there trying to marry you sooner, and you could just lie here at home sleeping like a baby!"

A reek of liquor laced with perfume rolled off him.

I frowned and held my phone up to his face.

"This is what Lillian posted last night at midnight."

The two of them in the picture wore matching couple's outfits.

Holding hands, leaning into each other.

Zoom in, and you could even make out the lipstick mark on Horace's face.

He took the phone from me.

A flicker of guilt hid in the crease between his brows, almost too faint to catch.

But soon enough, he turned it back on me, just like always.

"That's Lillian's prank, AI-generated."

"After all these years together, you don't even have that much basic trust in me?"

"No wonder that peach tree refused to bloom all this time. I'd say it's because you never gave me your true heart at all!"

The words had barely left his mouth when Lillian pushed the door open.

She had Horace's coat draped over her shoulders, and she stretched into a lazy yawn.

"Horace, why'd you come back so early? I'm not even awake yet."

"Come keep me company a little longer, won't you?"

The fury vanished from Horace's face in an instant.

He turned to her with a soft little laugh.

"Grandfather's coming back to the old house today. I have to get over here ahead of time to get things ready."

"Stay and eat with us. Grandfather loves a proper, well-bred young lady like you."

With that, he turned his eyes back on me.