The same time. House of the Williams family.Ding dong.
"Corey, please open the door!" Mrs. Williams was fiddling in the kitchen, preparing her daughter"s favorite dishes. She tried to do everything possible to make her daughter feel good, and to make sure she was in a good mood.
The girl was sitting on the couch in the living room and reading a book about taking care of little children. Regardless of what happened between her and Rick, and what this man turned out to be, Corey loved the baby with all her heart and was looking forward to the moment when she would become a mom.
She opened the door, a delivery service representative greeted her,
"h.e.l.lo. I have a package for the person named Miss Corey Williams."
"h.e.l.lo. It"s me," Corey replied, surprised by the unexpected package. The girl signed the receipt, picked up the envelope and closed the door.
She almost dropped the package from her hands when she saw the name of the sender, written on the back. The girl"s heart pounded wildly. From their last meeting in a hospital in Germany, he no longer made a single attempt to contact her. It was not that she hoped for it, rather, on the contrary, she wanted everything to remain as it was. Because, if he appeared before her eyes again, she was not sure that she could pretend that she did not remember him. The memory of this person will remain with her until the end of her life.
"Corey, who was it? Was there a package? I saw the FedEx van," Margaret shouted from the kitchen, without stopping her cooking magic.
"The order came from an online store, which I made recently. Mom, I"ll go up to my room, I want to sleep a little. As soon as I rest a bit, I will come down myself."
"Good baby! I won"t bother you then, just bear it in mind that dinner will be ready in an hour," Mrs. Williams answered, completely not noticing the disturbed notes in her daughter"s voice.
Corey pressed the envelope to her heart and headed for her room, closing the door behind her with a key, the girl went ahead and sat on the bed. On her lap was a package with the name of Rick Stein on the back. She was looking at it for a long time, not daring to open it.
The girl was afraid that the unknown contents of this envelope could in one moment destroy all her determination, and return the pain to her heart, which she tried to soothe so hard.
Corey took a deep breath and opened the envelope. Inside there were several doc.u.ments and a handwritten letter.
This man seemed to be perfect in everything, even his handwriting was neat and beautiful as if he were a master of calligraphy. In the age of the Internet and mobile phones, when all communication took place through chats and sms, he always left her small notes written by hand.
After their first night, when she woke up in his apartment in the morning, she saw in front of her a bouquet of scarlet roses and a note with words of love. At that moment, an indescribable wave of happiness covered her. Words written in perfect italics, the style of which she saw only in old books made her heart tremble with admiration.
Again she caught herself at the thought that often occurred to her. In his small gestures, in moments of unconscious behavior, in some domestic matters, Rick sometimes seemed to her to be a man from another time.
In public, he was a modern, stylish and successful specialist in his business, but when he was alone with her, his speech and behavior sometimes differed from the image familiar to all outsiders.
It was only now when she knew what was the reason for this, and back then he seemed to her a secret prince who was forced to hide his true nature. She strongly supported him and pretended that she did not notice these differences, in the hope that one day he would tell her if there was any secret behind his behavior.
But even now she didn"t know if the words in those little notes were sincere, or it was also part of his big game. She wanted to believe with all her heart that at least a little, even a little bit, those words that he was saying to her were true.
The girl, with trembling fingers, unfolded the letter and looked at such a familiar and once favorite handwriting,
"Dear Corey. I would like to write "My dear Corey", but I know that I am not worthy to be with you. When you will be reading this letter, then, most likely, I will no longer be alive. Therefore, I apologize for breaking into your life again like this and again causing pain to you.
I do not know if I can do what I have in mind, but if it works, then you will understand what I am writing about. If not, then simply accept this letter as the words of a secret admirer, and so it will probably be even better that your memory does not torment your heart.
Although, deep down, I hope that you will remember me. Here I am so selfish again. Even causing you pain, I want you to remember me.
In the doc.u.ments that you will receive with this letter, I give you the rights to my apartment, as well as an account for fifteen million dollars, opened in your name. This is my personal property, which has nothing to do with other businesses of mine; the money was also earned by me in an honest way, so you can use it as you wish. I would not dare to offer you something bad, which, unfortunately, I have made in much bigger numbers, but this apartment and this money have nothing to do with everything that I did.
Just know that in this house, there was no one but you. Except, Elena and David were once there. Therefore, it is yours and only yours.
I am sure that you will think that all this is not necessary for you. But this is the only thing I can give you in order to at least somehow reclaim my fault before you.
What I am about to tell you now will be very selfish and dishonest of me, but, Corey, thank you for the love you gave me. You are the only woman I have ever loved. Probably in the time when you and I were alone, I was myself, although I did not realize it.
I thought I was leading the game, but only when I lost you, I realized that the game was all different. In my dark world, only you were the light, the one and only.
And what I truly regret is that I understood it too late. Forgive me for these words. I write them and I know that in this way I only cause you more pain, but I wanted to tell you about it, even so.
Thank you. With you, I understood what happiness is.
Forever yours and only yours, Rick."
Corey lay down on the bed and pressed the letter to her heart, tears streaming down her cheeks, she was trying to hold herself with all the strength so as not to burst into tears out loud.
"Fool, what a fool you are, Rick."
She wrapped her arms around her belly to give the baby her warmth, "Dear, I know you don"t like it, but let your mommy cry a little. I promise this will be the last time," she whispered, and the room was filled with her quiet sobs.
This was the last time she cried about him. About the man whom she loved with all her heart.