Broken Minds and Broken Hearts

Her story stopped abruptly and her complexion became even whiter. Try as she might, she couldn't speak. Her tears just ran down her face, but out of character, she wasn't sobbing or shaking. The new Kevin told her that she didn't have to continue, if it was that painful. He didn't know where her story was heading, but enough had already been said to tell him that she was about to enter a very touchy and sensitive part of her remembrance, and something quite horrible, painful.

Caroline searched her mind, trying to unearth what had happened, what came next? She had to rerun the tape to recall that final event. Could she face that last part? Could she speak out loud of that horror?

'Oh my God, forgive me, Kevin. I can't do this to you. I have just come from a cave in my past, a place where another - a love - was forced to leave me alone. I have suddenly remembered something very horrible, something that I have shut out of my memory until now.' Caroline cried as she spoke, afraid of what she had done to the Kevin before her, afraid of what she had just recalled.

'Please, forgive me! You have a big enough burden to carry right now, without my adding to your hurt and confusion with my secret pain and torment. Dear Kevin, whoever you are, I'm sorry.'

But Caroline knew that she must tell the rest, that she would die inside and perhaps even destroy a new future if she didn't finish, if she did not let it out.

'Kevin O'Connell moved toward me, and his look melted me. Oh, how I wanted that kiss. I was almost in his arms, so close to him.

'But we never met! As he reached for me, there was a shot. Kevin O'Connell was dead before I caught him in my arms. I was on the floor, scared, perhaps not yet understanding what had just happened to my life. How could I know, in my shocked state? I would know shortly, because in that moment, I died inside.

'The officers that responded had to pry him away from me. I wouldn't let go. That night I was wearing a blue and white gingham dress. When they arrived to take Kevin away, the dress and I were both coated in blood and little pieces of the man I was to marry.'

She had finally said it. After all those years of storing and hiding, she had told what had happened. It was a relief, but it left her all but faint. The tears were accompanied by sobbing and loud crying. Kevin didn't know what to do or what he should say. He only knew that he had never heard such a heart-breaking story. He was surprised as Caroline spoke, especially when he realized how controlled and steady her words were.

'I've never told anybody about what happened, not the whole story.