I took one more step toward the courtyard and heard David say something that made my entire body go cold.
“I promised her I wouldn’t tell her yet.”
A woman answered him softly.
“You can’t keep this from her forever, David.”
I froze.
Her?
Who was “her”?
And why was David talking about me as though I wasn’t supposed to know what was happening?
I pressed myself against the stone wall and listened.
“I just need a little more time,” David said. “She has been through enough.”
The woman’s voice became sharper.
“You’ve only known her for a week.”
“I know.”
“And you’re already planning this?”
There was silence.
Then David sighed.
“You don’t understand. I haven’t felt this way in years.”
My heart began pounding.
Was he talking about me?
For one beautiful week, I’d allowed myself to believe that maybe love could find me again at sixty-seven.
Maybe David had felt it too.
But now, standing outside that courtyard, I suddenly wondered whether every sweet moment we’d shared had been part of some elaborate plan.
Then the woman spoke again.
“Does she know about the house?”
I stopped breathing.
The house?
What house?
David had never mentioned owning a house in Malta.
“She doesn’t know anything yet,” David replied.
“Good. Keep it that way until tomorrow.”
Tomorrow?
Something important was supposed to happen tomorrow.
I stepped backward, desperate to get away before they discovered me.
But my heel struck a small metal bucket beside the wall.
CLANG!
The sound echoed through the courtyard.
The conversation stopped instantly.
“Who’s there?” David called.
I panicked.
I hurried back toward the restaurant, pretending I had simply gotten lost.
A few seconds later, David appeared through the doorway.
His face had changed.
The warm, playful smile I’d fallen for was gone.
“Margaret?”
I turned around.
“David.”
“What are you doing here?”
I forced a laugh.
“I was looking for the restroom.”
He stared at me for a moment too long.
Then his expression softened.
“Oh. It’s just down the hall.”
I nodded.
But as we walked back toward our table, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d heard.
The house.
Tomorrow.
And the woman.
When we sat down, David reached across the table and gently took my hand.
“I’m sorry I disappeared.”
I looked directly into his eyes.
“Who was she?”
His fingers suddenly tightened around mine.
“What woman?”
“The woman in the courtyard.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“Someone from my past.”
“Your past?”
“Yes.”
“An old friend?”
He looked away.
“Something like that.”
I wanted to believe him.
God, I wanted to.
But something inside me told me that I was being given only half the truth.
Dinner continued, but everything felt different.
Every laugh seemed forced.
Every smile felt rehearsed.
And when David walked me back to my hotel, he stopped outside the entrance.
“I have something special planned for tomorrow,” he said.
My stomach tightened.
“What kind of something special?”
He smiled.
“The kind that might change everything.”
I stared at him.
“Change everything how?”
“You’ll see.”
Then he kissed my forehead and walked away.
I watched him disappear around the corner.
For a moment, I stood there beneath the warm Maltese night sky, wondering if I had just met the man who would change the rest of my life…
or the man who was about to break my heart.
I barely slept that night.
At six in the morning, someone knocked on my hotel door.
I opened it cautiously.
No one was there.
Only a small envelope lay on the floor.
My name was written across the front.
MARGARET.
My hands began to shake.
I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed David standing outside a beautiful white stone house.
But David wasn’t alone.
Beside him stood the same woman I’d heard talking to him the night before.
And written on the back of the photograph were six words:
“ASK HIM WHO THIS HOUSE BELONGS TO.”
I stared at the photograph in disbelief.
Then my phone rang.
It was David.
I answered.
“Margaret, please don’t leave your hotel.”
His voice sounded frightened.
“Why?”
“Because someone has found out.”
“Found out what?”
There was a long silence.
Then David whispered:
“Everything.”
The call suddenly ended.
And for the first time since I arrived in Malta, I wondered whether saying “yes” to everything had been the biggest mistake of my life………………
