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Chapter_37
Sadie’s words hung in the air between them like a quiet storm, the weight of her tone not lost on Ronan. He felt the sting of her words, the accusation and the hurt. He had never intended to hurt her, but he knew his actions, his choices, had done just that. How could he explain the choices he had made after she left? How could he justify marrying Leah when all he had ever wanted was Sadie?
He remained silent for a moment, staring at the floor, struggling with the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. He had hurt her. He had married someone else. He had a family with someone else. And here she was, standing before him, raising three children on her own. It was his fault. He knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to face her.
Finally, he lifted his gaze, meeting her eyes. “Sadie,” he said, his voice quieter now, filled with an emotion he couldn’t quite name. “I never wanted things to turn out like this.”
Sadie crossed her arms, her expression guarded. “But they did, didn’t they?” She couldn’t stop the bitterness that crept into her voice. “You moved on so quickly, Ronan. How am I supposed to feel about that? You had a family, and I was left with nothing. I had to figure it all out on my own.”
He winced at her words, the sharpness of them cutting deeper than he wanted to admit. “I didn’t want to leave you,” he said softly, almost as if he were speaking to himself. “But I thought… I thought it was for the best. I thought I was protecting you, that I was doing the right thing.”
Sadie laughed bitterly, a humorless sound that echoed in the still room. “Protecting me? By walking away?” She shook her head, her voice rising with frustration. “You didn’t protect me, Ronan. You left. And now, you’re standing here asking about my children, about my life. Do you even know what I’ve been through? Do you even care?”
Ronan took a step closer, his heart aching at the pain in her voice. “Sadie, please. I care. I always have. I never stopped caring.”
She looked at him for a long moment, her eyes searching his face, trying to gauge if there was any truth in his words. Her heart was a battlefield—torn between the past, the memories of the love they once shared, and the reality of the man before her now.
“Do you even realize how much you’ve hurt me?” she whispered, her voice cracking. “All these years, I’ve raised our children alone, wondering what went wrong. And now… now you want to come back into my life like everything is fine? Like we can just pick up where we left off?”
Ronan’s throat tightened at her words, his guilt mounting. He knew he had no right to expect anything from her, but he couldn’t help the yearning that still burned inside him. “Sadie,” he began, his voice thick with emotion, “I can’t change the past. But I want to be here for you now. I want to make things right, if you’ll let me.”
She met his gaze, her eyes softening ever so slightly, though her heart still ached with everything she had lost. “You can’t just fix everything with words, Ronan,” she said quietly. “I’ve had to live with the consequences of your decisions for so long. I can’t just forget all of that.”
“I’m not asking you to forget,” he replied quickly. “But I’m asking for a chance. A chance to prove to you that I’m not the man I was before. I want to make things right, for you and for the kids.”
Sadie’s chest tightened, the weight of his words pressing down on her. She wanted to believe him, wanted to trust that he could change, but part of her was terrified of the possibility that he might disappoint her again. She had learned the hard way that nothing was ever as simple as it seemed.
“I don’t know if I can trust you again,” she said softly, her voice barely a whisper. “It’s too much to ask.”
Ronan nodded, his face solemn. He understood. He had no right to ask for her trust. But he couldn’t give up. Not now, not when he had the chance to make things right.
“I understand,” he said quietly. “But I won’t give up on you, Sadie. Not now, not ever.”
Sadie didn’t respond, her eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and uncertainty. She didn’t know what the future held, but one thing was clear—everything had changed, and so had she. Whether she could find it in her heart to forgive him, to open up to him again, she wasn’t sure. But for now, she would hold on to the strength that had carried her this far.
As they stood there, the silence between them heavy and unresolved, Sadie couldn’t help but feel that the past wasn’t finished with her just yet.
