My Mourning, His Celebration

When my father succumbed to a brutal illness, my world shattered.

The day before his funeral, my fiancé abandoned me to marry his first love, which added to my grief.

When I confronted him, his irritation was palpable.

"Megan's dad is dying of cancer," he snapped. "His last wish is to see her get married. I did something good. Can't you see it?"

That night, I called him, desperate for answers, only to hear that woman's smug voice.

"Blake is in the shower. Can I help you?"

I hung up without a word, my heart sinking.

Later, he called back, exhausted and dismissive. "I'm swamped with wedding plans. Don't bother me with irrelevant things, okay?"

Silence was my only response.

I tossed the engagement ring into the trash and canceled our wedding plans, severing the ties that bound us.

My father's funeral was stark and simple, just as he had wanted.

I moved through the motions and greeted the attendees like a robot, hoping the bustle would dull the ache in my chest.

But on this day of all days, Blake Cole, the man who was supposed to be my partner, never showed up.

My dad, Alex Holmes, had spent his final years fretting over my happiness. Now I could handle the rest, and he could rest in peace.

The attendees whispered to each other, looking at me with pity.

"Kate's father is gone, but her fiancé doesn't even show? What kind of man does that?"

"No respect and no decency. What kind of family raises a guy like that?"

"Bet he's off playing house with someone else. Shameless!"

My friends' faces were flushed with indignation, and a few spat on the ground in disgust.

I shook my head but made no moves to stop them.

Shame was nothing new to me and my family. I had been used to it.

By now, Blake was wrapped up in his fairy-tale wedding with his first love, Megan Burns, and had no time to say goodbye to my father.

His heart had long since drifted, so requesting his presence was meaningless.

In fact, we were better off without him. I didn't want him to appear and taint the memorial.

As the coffin was lowered into the earth, the weight of loss crushed me. The man who'd loved me unconditionally was gone.

Staring at his photo on the tombstone, I couldn't hold it together any longer. My knees hit the cold ground, and a wail tore from my throat, raw and unstoppable.

It was all my fault that he had left the world with regrets.

Drained and hollow, I sent Blake a text.

[It's over. My dad is gone.]

There was no reply.

I presumed he was toasting champagne as the world's happiest groom or tangled up in Megan's arms.

I bet he wouldn't care even if he saw my message. I just had never mattered to him.

But it didn't matter anymore.

From now on, I creased caring about him. He was