“I’m sorry to say this, but your wife died in a car collision. You need to come with us and identify the body. We found her address on her driver’s license.”

Still trembling in shock, Eric managed to call their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Nelson, and asked her to look after the triplets while he was away. When he got to the mortuary, he couldn’t believe the pale, lifeless body was Cora’s. He burst into tears, feeling horrible for lashing out at her, and after the funeral the next day, he shut himself away at home. He didn’t want to think or do anything.

The table Cora had laid was still there, and when he glanced at it, all the events of the previous evening flashed before his eyes. Suddenly, he remembered Cora’s gift. “The gift…I – I didn’t even open it.” He looked frantically around the room and finally saw it lying on the floor.

He unwrapped the gift with shaky hands and found a note inside with two plane tickets to Hawaii. He brushed his tears away before opening the letter to read it.

To the love of my life, Eric,

Happy Valentine’s Day, honey!!! Guess who got a job this month? I saw that you were exhausted after working alone, so I began applying at a few places, and yesterday afternoon, I got a call that I was hired for the position!!

You see those tickets? It’s for our vacation to Hawaii, just the two of us!! (I’ve made some other plans too, but you’ll get to know about that later, hehe!)

When Eric finished reading the note, he burst into tears like a child. But there was nothing he could do. Cora was gone, and he’d have to live with it for the rest of his life. Sadly, that is precisely what happened.

Eric’s life was never the same again after that day, and he never fell in love again. He simply worked hard to provide the best for his children and nurture them well. Now, every Valentine’s Day, all he does is go to Cora’s grave and spend hours talking to her about anything and everything that comes to his mind, wishing he could have asked her for forgiveness.