It's what he wanted."
"I became estranged from my family in my late 20s. I was involved with some people they considered dangerous. Arthur stayed in touch secretly. Twenty years ago, Arthur came to see me. There was an accident…"
"What kind of accident? Something to do with your dangerous friends?" Linda asked.
Michael didn't answer that.
"He was dying," Michael continued. "He knew it. He told me Linda couldn't lose another parent. He begged me to take his place."
"Don't dress this up as noble," Linda said, her voice cutting. "You made me doubt my own mind. You let me mourn my father while looking at his face every day."
"There was an accident…"
He had no answer for that.
Then he turned to me. "I never lied about loving you."
And the terrible thing was, I believed him. But love built on theft is still theft. Love that requires another person's life to be erased is not love you can trust.
"You didn't just lie. You erased someone. Then you asked me to stand in front of God and marry the lie." I slipped off my ring and placed it in his palm. "I can't do it. I won't."
Nobody moved.
