57 Marriage Proposals

My mother, Mariana Heimann, has terminal cancer. She wants me to get married before she dies.

It takes 57 days of me pleading with my boyfriend, Hayden Weatherford, before he finally agrees to marry me.

On the day we agreed to register our marriage, he's a no-show even after the city hall staff have clocked off from work.

At the same time, Hayden's childhood friend, Scarlett Needham, shows off a photo of her and Hayden holding up their marriage certificate. It's captioned, "Time sure flies. In another week, we'll have been married for two months."

It dawns on me that Hayden and Scarlett were married on the day I first begged him to marry me.

I receive a message from Hayden on my phone. He apologizes, "Scarlett's family members were forcing her into marriage, Lucy. I couldn't stand by and watch her suffer, pressured into marrying a stranger. We'll get divorced in a week, after which you and I can get married."

…

One week later, I send Hayden a message as he waits for me in front of the city hall, dressed in a suit. "We'll never meet again, Hayden."

I gazed at my mother's icy body lying in the morgue, my tears flowing ceaselessly down my face.

My mother, Mariana Heimann, had raised me alone and never asked for anything in return. On the contrary, I had never done anything for her.

I could not even fulfill her only wish before she passed.

Knowing that my mother was dying, I begged Hayden Weatherford—the man with whom I'd been mutually in love for seven years—to marry me. I wanted my mom to rest assured that even after she was gone, someone would take care of me.

I begged him for a total of 57 days, but Hayden always failed to give me a proper answer.

On the first day, his childhood friend Scarlett Needham's mother fell sick, so he had to rush over to visit her.

On the second day, he was helping Scarlett move some furniture, so the talk about marriage had to be postponed to another day.

…

On the 57th day, Scarlett was going on a trip, so he had to drop her off at the airport.

If not for Scarlett posting an intimate photo of them holding up a marriage certificate today, Hayden would have continued playing me for a fool.

I made up all sorts of excuses on his behalf, but I never would've guessed that he had already been married to someone else.

I knelt by my mom's bedside until the sky had gone dark. That was when my phone started ringing.

It was Hayden on the other end, his tone as caring as usual, as he mentioned, "It's already dark outside. Why are you still not home? Send me your location and I'll drive over to pick you up."

I was going to reply, but then my words stuck in my throat.

Usually, I would definitely pretend to be unhappy to hear