Here – A Mother Handed Her Daughter a Dozen Letters. As Julia Read Them Alone in the Next Room, She Didn’t Just Cry – She Sobbed Out Loud.

When Robert left to join the army, Emily promised she would wait faithfully for him. She kept her wordwriting him letters brimming with heartfelt declarations of love, drawing little flowers and hearts in the margins, and at the end, next to the word kiss, she would leave the imprint of her lips. She truly loved him with all her heartthe kind of love only possible in ones youth, and his absence made every minute stretch into an hour.
Thats why Emily still couldnt believe Robert would do this to her.
Her heart told her it wasnt true, that he couldnt possibly have forgotten her. But when he stopped replying to her letters, and eventually sent a note saying she ought to forget him, she had no choice but to accept it.
Emily ended up marrying the first man she met. Of course, there was no love. She locked away her broken heart, determined never to get hurt like that again. No one could ever mean more to her than Robert had.
One afternoon, Emily was in the kitchen, wearing her apron and slippers, when the doorbell rang. She went to answer it, and there stood Robertnow a grown man, in his officers uniform.
“I couldnt believe youd really married, so I had to see for myself. And now I see its true.” His eyes were filled with so much pain it looked as though he might cry, “Now I know why you never replied to my letters”
He turned to go, but Emily stopped him.
“How can you say that? You were the one who wrote and told me to forget you” Emily didnt know if he was trying to explain, or accuse her.
“And…?” Robert asked after a long pause. “Yes, last week I sent my last letter from the army, hoping you were waiting for me…”
A lump caught in Emilys throat. He wouldnt let her speak. Tears burned her cheeks, her mind overflowing with questions”How, why?”
That same day, Emily went to see her parents. They must know more than she did. Theyd never liked Robert, since he didnt have any money.
“Forgive us, love,” her mother and father said, letting their emotions show. “We only wanted you to have a better life, not scraping by to buy your children a packet of sweets. We went through that ourselves, and just wanted more for you.”
“But you were poor yourselves, and you still fell in love and got married. Why would you want to ruin my happiness? How could you do that to me?” Emily asked, her voice trembling with accusation.
Her mother handed her a bundle of letters.
In the next room, Emily read them, and didnt simply cryshe sobbed aloud. In Roberts last letter, just as he told her, there was a pressed snowdrop inside. Next to it, hed written: “I searched for ages, but I found this for you.”
That evening, Emily had a serious talk with her husband, who seemed only to care for work, money, mates, and perhaps, as nosy neighbours often whispered, other women. They parted ways quietly and without drama.
For the first time in her life, Emily overcame her fear of the dark and took a walk through the city at night. Yet she wasnt afraid, because she was heading towards the home of the man who truly loved herand whom shed never stopped loving.
With time, all misunderstandings and hard feelings faded away. Emily and Roberts family grew to include two fair-haired sons. Their grandparents delighted in having grandchildren. And everyone agreed: the greatest wealth was a home filled with true, honest love.