“No.” He lifted her chin. “Look at me. You’re not going to fight? You’re just going to walk away from me?”

“I’m doing the best I can. You won’t understand, but it’s how things have to be.”

“Why? I know you. I know you think what you’re doing is right, but setting me free, telling me to go live my life without you is not what’s right. What have they done to you?”

Her tears slowed as she looked at him, really looked at him. “Did I ever tell you that you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, even on the saddest day I’ve ever known?”

“Jude, don’t do this. I need you here. Don’t close yourself off to me.”

“Please, Hazel.” She slipped when she called him the name she swore she wouldn’t anymore. That name held all her feelings in it and pain shot through her heart. “Please, just go with it.”

As he studied her face, her tears drying against her porcelain skin, he saw the wall firmly in place—whether for his protection or hers, he wasn’t sure, but he knew he wasn’t going to get her back on a busy street corner in New York City. So he gave in, knowing this was not the time for arguments, knowing she needed him to, and lightened their last moments together. “Not handsome?”

Jude touched his cheek, unable to stop herself. “One doesn’t stand before the ocean and call it handsome. We didn’t stare at the stars last April and say it was a handsome night. Love knows only the beauty of its power, not the intricacies of verses. So no, Hazel, you’re not handsome. You’re beautiful like the stars. You’re beautiful like the ocean. You’re beautiful like the love I feel for you.”

“This feels final,” he said, his fingers running up her arm until he was cupping her hand on his cheek. He had to try one last time despite the passersby. “I’ve designed a closet for you. It’s huge, the size of a bedroom. Just for you. For all the dresses you’ll own.”

“I’ll always live in that beautiful home, but it will be in my dreams.” Her hand dropped to her side and her heart finally stopped beating as she uttered the most painful six words she would ever speak, “This is where our story ends.”

Her ache was visceral. The sound of her heart breaking rang in her ears as shards filled her blood stream. She backed away, her chest barren of beats or purpose. Turning away from him and his impossible eyes, she needed to block him out as his tears welled like hers.

“Jude, no. Please,” he said, his words rushed, “I’m begging you. Choose me. Choose us.”

“You deserve a better life. You deserve the best life.” She stopped speaking, not wanting to say it. Jude knew she should, her own maddening reasoning that brought her here needing to be buried for him, for his happiness. “Everything about our lives dictates that maybe, maybe you should give Katherine a second chance.”

Sideswiped by her words, he stepped back from her. “What? What are you talking about?”

She would use anything to walk away from him, leaving him as unscathed as she could. “When you’re sick, she’ll hire the best nurses to care for you.”

Jude’s head dropped down as tears flooded her eyes again.

Too much pain.

The thought of him sick, the thought of a nurse caring for him, the thought of him spending his final days without her broke her.

Her mother touched Jude’s arm. “We’ve got to go. They’re looking for you.”

The harsh ticking of time chimed in their ears, rushing the last few seconds they had together. Jude said, “I tried to kill myself after Ryan died because I had nothing to live for any longer.”

Taylor knew she was pushing him away. He didn’t know why, but he knew she would only do this if she had to. So even if he couldn’t have her, he still wanted her to be safe. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he held her firmly, needing her attention. “You have to live for you.” He demanded, “Promise me, Jude, when you feel alone, you’ll live.” His voice faltered. “I can’t live knowing you no longer breathe, that you no longer walk this world with your love, with your life.”

She pressed herself against him, needing to hear his heartbeat one last time. “I never had a reason to live before. But now, I can live because I’ve loved and I’ve been loved.” She looked up at him, her eyes pink from crying, and smiled. “Our love was spectacularly wonderful.”

“And reckless.” He breathed her in.

“The most reckless of love affairs.”

Touching her neck gently, he always loved the delicate angle. “Jude?”

“I’ll never forget you, Hazel.” She slipped from his arms and took several steps away.

“I’ll never forget you,” he added. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw you. I’ll never forget eating ice cream in the middle of winter. I’ll never crave breakfast like I do for dinner.”

“Don’t do this, Hazel.”

“What am I doing, Jude?”

Backing even farther, she said, “You think you’re convincing me of a future that can be when really, you’re convincing yourself.” Sighing, she tilted her head while watching him pull at his tie. “Go now, before you say something that I can’t say no to. Go back to your beautiful life. You’re free to start over without the problems I bring. Go, Taylor.” She started walking, but stopped and said, “But occasionally, think of me.”

“I don’t believe you, Jude Barrett.” He let her go this time, but made sure to say, “You can’t hide your love away forever. And when you’re ready, I’ll be here and we’ll be together again.”

Jude had no doubt.

Suddenly she was grabbed and embraced. Her eyes fell closed and this was everything. Everything that mattered. He felt so good, too good—warmth and safety, like ice cream on a hot day, and hot cocoa on a cold night. He was made of the best things in life.

“We can leave together. Go right now. Anywhere. Anywhere in the world, Jude. They will never find us. They will never find you. They won’t be able to hurt you anymore.”

She turned her back to him again, but heard shuffling behind her. Almost to herself, she said, “I’m not as strong as you think I am.”

“You’re stronger,” he said, his voice echoing his persistence. “You’ve just forgotten.”

“I need peace in my life. That means life without you.” The silence behind her grew as she continued, “I will always love you, Hazel.” She wanted to keep distancing herself but she loved him too much to ignore the name she loved the most.

As she walked away, she thought about the year ahead. She was right to set him free. She couldn’t hold him back from living the life he deserved. Staring at the long sidewalk ahead of her, she knew she had to let him go. For now. And if he found happiness, found a better life without her, she would let him go forever.

Legally, her aunt and stepfather owned her again. With her heavy, miserable and broken heart she travelled back to her incarceration.

One more year.

Taylor stood there, watching her, watching his soul leave his body, choosing to reside in another. The battle today was over. Defeat was never easily accepted. Heartbreak even harder. Caleb stood beside him and watched Jude go, and then asked, “Do you believe her?”

Looking over at him, he said, “No. She’s not a selfish person. They know this.”

“What are you going to do?”

Taylor needed to think this through, to figure out what was really going on, but deep down he knew any conclusion he came to wouldn’t make a difference to the outcome.

She was convinced what she was doing was right. He’d seen the conviction in her eyes. “I have my wife taken away because I’m sick. I have my life taken away because she’s sick. The legal system has failed me. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

JUDE WALKED INTO the pink bedroom and found documents on the vanity where her brother’s photo used to be. She sat down and looked at them.