Chicago Snow
305 Words
Three days later, Delilah boarded a plane to Chicago.
Fear twisted inside her stomach the entire journey.
What if she was too late?
What if Elias no longer wanted her?
Snow covered the city heavily when she arrived.
Using the address Naomi secretly obtained from Elias’s coworker, Delilah finally reached a quiet hospital on the north side.
Inside, she found Elias sitting alone beside a vending machine.
He looked exhausted.
Unshaven.
Heartbroken.
When he saw her, disbelief filled his eyes.
“Delilah?”
She walked toward him slowly.
“I read my grandmother’s letter.”
Elias stood silently.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was scared.”
Pain flickered across his face.
“I know.”
Delilah swallowed hard.
“I should have listened to you.”
Elias looked away briefly.
“My mother had surgery yesterday.”
“Is she okay?”
“She survived.”
Relief softened his features slightly.
Then silence returned.
Finally, Elias spoke quietly.
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know that now.”
He studied her carefully.
“The engagement ended because Claire stopped loving me years before we officially broke apart. We stayed together out of comfort, not love.”
Delilah listened silently.
“When I came back home and saw you again, everything changed.”
Emotion thickened his voice.
“You made me feel alive in ways I hadn’t felt for years.”
Tears filled Delilah’s eyes.
“I love you, Elias.”
He closed his eyes briefly as though the words physically affected him.
“I love you too.”
Then he pulled her into his arms.
The embrace felt like returning home.
Everything painful inside her quieted.
For the first time, Delilah understood something important.
Love was not the absence of fear.
Love was choosing someone despite fear.
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