How Does SHE STOOD BY ME End?

For five years, Talia Stewart has poured everything into her marriage without a single complaint or regret. She raises their child, devotedly serves her in-laws, and gives her husband, Christian Lane, all the personal space he wants. But her selfless dedication is rewarded with betrayal when Christian starts keeping a mistress. He buys Nancy York cars, gives her an apartment, gets her a job, kisses and embraces her, and even carries her on his back. To win back her straying husband's heart, Talia decides to try for a second child—a boy this time. Initially, she thinks that if Christian is willing to have a second child with her, it means that he still recognizes her as his wife. But the truth is, Christian only wants Talia to bear his children because he fears Nancy might face risks from childbirth. Talia thinks that even if she loses Christian, she'll still have her daughter for company. But the daughter she raises with such care becomes someone else's precious little girl instead. Finally, Talia's heart breaks completely. She terminates the pregnancy and resolves to get a divorce. She wants nothing more to do with either her husband or her daughter. But during the mandatory waiting period before their divorce can be finalized, Christian, who refuses to come home, suddenly corners her in the living room. "Didn't we agree to have a second child?"

Colonel Rachel Melton promises me she will only stay by her first love's side during his depressive episodes 99 times. Yet, the moment I mark down the 99th time, I catch them locked in a tight embrace. After that, I no longer stand in her way when she goes to him. I only ask her for a good luck charm to serve as our child's first birthday gift. At the mention of our child, Rachel's expression softens. "When I get back, I'll make sure to give Diana a wonderful first birthday." "Okay," I murmur, completely omitting the fact that I have submitted our divorce papers ten days ago, and that our daughter died on the very day she chose to be with Todd Weber. Now, we are already divorced.

For twenty-three years, Elena Hart and Adrian Cole have been inseparable. They grew up together, shared a childhood promise to marry one day and became so close that everyone believed they were destined to be together. Everyone except Adrian. For two years, Elena has lived like Adrian's lover. They share a bed, go on dates and say I love you, but whenever she asks what they truly are, Adrian gives her the same answer. They are only best friends. Then Isabelle Laurent, the college crush Adrian had never truly gotten over, returns. In a matter of days, Adrian begins pursuing the woman he once believed he could never have. He tells Elena that their two years together meant nothing and warns her not to mistake their relationship for love. So Elena leaves. A thousand miles away, she starts over and pours herself into her dream of opening a dance studio. For the first time, she begins building a life that has nothing to do with Adrian. Adrian is certain she will return, just as she always has. But this time, Elena doesn't. As the months pass, Adrian slowly realizes that the woman he thought he could never love is the only person he can no longer live without. By the time he finally goes after her, Elena is no longer waiting. Worse, there is another man standing beside her and Elena is hiding a secret Adrian never knew existed. When the truth finally comes out, Adrian may discover that the promise he once treated like a childish joke is the one promise he will never get the chance to keep.

On our wedding day, my wife's first love, Hank Scott, threatened to slit his wrists. She ignored him and went through with the ceremony anyway, until news arrived that he was dead, his blood staining the ground. From that moment on, Shirley Lowell withdrew into a convent, becoming the cold, distant woman everyone knew. In the name of atonement, she forced me to copy the Bible a thousand times and kneel in endless prayer, grinding me down until I was crippled. Bound to a wheelchair, I asked her for a divorce. She refused, saying we owed Hank a debt and had to atone for it together. She used my family to threaten me, keeping me by her side and tormenting me for the rest of my life. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on our wedding day. This time, I chose to push her toward Hank. I would become the first love in her heart, the one who led her onto the path of devout faith.

At my best friend Grady's wedding, the bouquet landed right in my arms. Grady slid over, eyebrows bouncing. "Do you know how hard I worked to get Amanda as a bridesmaid? Dude, you've been into her for seven years. Go confess already." I froze, bouquet in hand. The thing Grady didn't know? Amanda Sheffield and I had been secretly dating for a year. I'd thought my years of pining had finally paid off. Then I told her we were done unless she bailed on the date her family set up. She just smiled, totally unbothered. "Ryder Reed, you've loved me for seven years. You really think you can walk away?" The memory cut out. Then Amanda came over, yanked the bouquet from my hands, and handed it to the guy beside her like it was nothing. She took one look at my face and lifted a brow, smug as hell. "See? You can't leave me."

During a thunderstorm on the border, my fiancee, Eleanor Ashby, covers my retreat and falls down a cliff. The search and rescue team spends three months searching through flash floods without finding a trace of her. Everyone concludes she's dead. I refuse to give up and spend another two years looking for her. Eventually, I find her at a small clinic in a remote mountain village. But she's become the wife of the clinic's caregiver, Dylan Foster. That's when I learn she's lost her memory and fallen in love with someone else. In my previous life, I ignore her wishes and force a renowned neurosurgeon to use a high-risk treatment to restore her memories. The day her memories return, the man who has cared for and protected her for the past two years throws himself into the river in despair. Later, during an earthquake rescue mission, Eleanor and I are trapped beneath a collapsed mountainside. There's only one narrow escape route wide enough for one person. She forcibly pushes me out. Moments later, a second collapse buries her beneath a massive boulder. With her dying breath, she reaches through a crack in the rocks and grips my hand. She says in a hoarse voice, "Callum Pierce, these ten years we've spent together is repayment for the debt I owed you from the ten years before. We're even now. Neither of us owes the other anything anymore. "If there's a next life, don't let me remember the past. Please... let me be with him." Tears blur my vision. When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day I find Eleanor. This time, I choose to respect her decision and let go of the life she's forgotten.