Too Late Choices

"Do you love me?" he whispered softly in her ear.
"Yes."
"Run away with me. Nobody has to know," he pleaded with her.
"Ben you know I can't. I'm engaged to David and as much as I love you I can't be with you, because I still love him too."
Ben pulled away from the object of his heart's pain. Shattering fragments of his already cracked heart exploded and fell like a chaotic avalanche into the abyss of his soul. A single, warm and salty, tear echoed down his unshaved face as he he let her go.
Slowly he pulled away from her, the pain more than he could bear. Ben seemed to age twenty years as he slipped away from her. Now the one tear was followed by another, and that tear by another... and another. Silently, he turned and with heavy feet walked towards the beckoning front door of this picturesquee church sanctuary.
Rose, for that was the young woman's name, sank low to her knees in sadness. Tears stained her beautiful, painted face as she wept for the man who she truly loved. She held her stomache and rocked back and forth as she watched him leave without another word and step into the bright sunlight. He had helped her with her choice, she knew he would not come back and that David would never have to know she loved two men. For this she loved Ben more...

Tires screeched like the vicious call of a hungry predator. Rose, hearing the strange sound, quickly wiped her eyes and ran towards the door. She ran into the sunlight and...
"OH MY GOD BEN!!!" she screamed as she ran towards his broken form, lying on the road.
His body was twitching in uncontrollable pain, as a river of blood roared out from beneath him. Shattered bones penetrated the once unblemished skin. Every movement, every gust of wind, sent spasms of immense pain shooting through his dying body. The darkness was seeping into his eyes when he caught one glimpse of Rose.
With a broken smile, ruined by blood and shattered teeth, he managed to say, "I'm sorry love. I'm truly sorry."
As she held him, paying no attention to the pools of blood that stained her clothes and tricked off her body, she wept. She felt his pain in her heart because she felt that it was her fault he was dying. She kissed his forehead, smearing the blood but putting another faint smile on his face.
"I love you Ben," she whispered as he faded away.
"Ditto..."
He died there in her arms, without a hope of living a life full of happiness with the woman he loved. He died with much pain and anguish in his soul. But he died knowing that she loved him as much as he loved her. With that knowledge he died with a happiness that numbed the pain right there at the end.
Now from time to time you see a woman, older now but still full of untameable beauty, sitting in a lonely cemetary. She weeps over the man who helped her see what she truly loved... him. Its funny how death can help a person realize that they were making a major mistake. Ben's death helped Rose to realize she didn't want to marry David, and so with a heavy heart she broke the engagement off. You'd expect him to be upset but no, he was already having an affair with his secretary so he didn't care.