The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 589

**Chapter 589: Belated Pilgrimage**

Years had slipped through his fingers like sand, and now the weight of that delay clung to him, a rust that tarnished his very essence. Each step he took felt increasingly burdensome, as though the air around him conspired to condemn him for his tardiness.

Finally, he found himself confronting the stark granite headstone, its cool surface a mute witness to the passage of time. Attached to it was a black-and-white photograph, a captured moment of a woman whose eyes burned with the same quiet intensity that he had come to cherish in Laura. The gentle curve of her lips was a softer echo of Laura’s own smile, a reminder of the love that had once flourished. This was her mother, the woman Laura had shielded with a fierce devotion, more protective than the very beat of her own heart.

Weston’s mind drifted back to a moment long past, when Laura had suggested, almost shyly, that they might visit this place together one spring morning. She had envisioned carrying white lilies, whispering a few heartfelt words to the woman who had shaped her. At that time, he had dismissed the idea, brushing it aside as if it were a fleeting thought. Now, standing in the ruins of their relationship, he realized how profoundly he had failed her.

As he knelt before the headstone, the flowers he had brought trembled slightly in his hands before he placed them gently at the base. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Wentworth,” he whispered, his voice barely above a breath. “I should have come to meet you long before this day.”

“Had I arrived sooner, perhaps the narrative of our lives would have unfolded differently,” he murmured, his gaze falling to the meticulously trimmed grass surrounding the grave. “But alas, the story has been penned, and I find myself too late to make any revisions.”

The turmoil within him was a tempest he could scarcely comprehend. He had promised Laura that he would remain an acquaintance, a mere shadow in her life, nothing more. Yet here he was, tie loosened, heart laid bare, offering his remorse to a photograph that would forever remain silent.

Was it regret that gnawed at him? Guilt, perhaps? Or was it the relentless ache of a love that had never been fully realized, pressing against his ribs like a vice until every breath became a struggle? Coming here felt akin to mending a tear that should never have existed, an overdue reconciliation that belonged solely to him, a debt he owed to a woman who would never know of his visit.

Weston rose slowly, the wind tugging at his coat as if urging him to leave. “Today marks our first meeting, and it may very well be our last. From this moment forward, I will keep my distance from Laura Wentworth, locking the gates of my heart as she desires. We will part ways, as she wishes.”

He vowed to himself that he would never again allow even the slightest excuse to draw him back into her orbit.

Nor would he permit the feelings he harbored to burrow deeper than they already had.

If his love for Laura was as fierce as he believed, then reason dictated that he must show her mercy by letting go.

A love devoid of promise should be excised before it festered into something wild enough to shatter its vessel.

He lingered at the grave, the silence stretching around him like a heavy blanket, before bowing his head in a final gesture of respect. Turning away, he stepped out of the cemetery, where the chauffeur awaited him by the gate, a silent sentinel in the fading light.

As he approached, the driver stepped forward, swinging open the door with a gesture of unspoken reverence.

Before settling into the plush leather seat, Weston cast one last glance over his shoulder at the serene rows of headstones.

“Laura, everything will unfold precisely as you wish,” he breathed, the vow slipping from his lips like a prayer.

He sank into the seat, and the sedan glided away from the cemetery, its tires whispering against the damp gravel, a soft farewell to the past.

A man of the Windore family had never—would never—surrender his sanity for love.

He had maintained control before.

He would not falter now—or ever.

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