After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage novel Chapter 13

Elaine had a point.If all he needed was a wife who can solve problems, anyone would do. Yet for some inexplicable reason, he couldn't stand the thought of letting her go.

He wanted her by his side—for whole life,maybe longer.He'd never once imagined what life would be like without Elaine.

Time was going, but he remained parked outside her house. As dawn broke, his phone suddenly blared to life. He jolted upright, fumbling for it, only to feel a stab of disappointment when Vivian's name flashed on the screen.

He tossed the phone aside and slumped back against the seat.

Closing his eyes, he found his mind filled with nothing but images of Elaine.

Teenage Elaine secretly following him across campus, thinking he hadn't noticed.

Bride Elaine walking down the aisle on her father's arm, her eyes full of love as she approached him.

Wife Elaine patiently handling his ex-girlfriends, then quietly crying when he brought home yet another replacement the very same day.

The emptiness in his chest refused to go away, making it impossible to define exactly what Elaine meant to him.

The sound of wheels rolling across pavement caught his attention. He looked up to see Elaine approaching, dragging a suitcase behind her.

Something like panic flashed through him.

"Where are you going?" His voice still carried its usual edge, but underneath lurked something unfamiliar: fear.

He hadn't even realized it himself, but he was terrified she was leaving.

Elaine startled at his sudden appearance, then glanced at the flashy Rolls-Royce parked nearby. The cigar butts littering the ground told her he'd been there all night.

"Alistair, you signed those papers yourself. I never lied to you. You've seen the divorce certificate. Why are you still hung up on this?"

"Besides, you don't even love me, do you? I loved you once, so I put up with your affairs. But I'm not willing to live that way anymore. If all you need is a wife, isn't Vivian—who looks so much like Sophia and is carrying the child you've been waiting for—a much better candidate than me?"

No, that's not it.

Alistair instinctively wanted to deny her words. "It's not the same..."

But he stopped mid-sentence, his expression suddenly blank.

"What's different?" he heard Elaine ask, confusion in her voice.

The same question echoed in his mind.What was different?