为了爱，他们做了什么

（翻译自读者文摘）

那是在1950年，约会的日子很美好。朋友们都认为，20岁的格瑞丝很喜欢鲍勃。事实上确实是这样。“我认为他是世界上最潇洒的男子，我非常爱他。”格瑞丝说道。就这样，格瑞丝和鲍勃彼此相爱。

一年来，他们愉快地相互约会。突然有一天，鲍勃消失了。再也没有电话，没有留言，不再露面。更令人发疯的是，连个离开的解释都没有。

格瑞丝没有一直沉缅于悲伤中，她应征入伍去做了一名水兵。很快，四年过去了，格瑞丝和鲍勃再次相遇，又走到了一起。 格瑞丝说：“我依然爱着他。”几个月之后，格瑞丝的手指上戴了一个大大的订婚戒指。

但是，同样的事情再次发生。了1954年10月，格瑞丝接到了一个电话，是鲍勃打来的。鲍勃说，他不想结婚了，不想就这样过下去。没有任何理由，仅仅是不想这样过日子。

“感到最为心痛的，不是他的离开，而是不明白他为什么要这样做。”格瑞丝说道。

像上次那样，格瑞丝又重新振作起来。1958年，她和一个男士结为连理，几年之后，他们有了五个女儿。但是，这是一场并不愉快的婚姻，它给格瑞丝带 来些许焦虑，只是格瑞丝瞒着丈夫，没有让他发觉。在格瑞丝的衣橱的最深处，珍藏着一枚订婚戒指，这戒指便是当年鲍勃送给她的。如果换了别人，早就把鲍勃送 的戒指给当掉或扔到河里去了。但是，格瑞丝没有这样。“我从来没有停止过爱他。”格瑞丝如是说道。

1969年，格瑞丝和丈夫的摇摇欲坠的婚姻终于解体了。格瑞丝把全部精力用于关注她的女儿，以及学习并获得了社会学和看护学的学位。时间飞快地进入了2004年。一天，格瑞丝家的电话铃响起，一个声音在电话里问道：“是格瑞丝吗？”

“电话从我的手中滑落，”格瑞丝说道，“天啦，是鲍勃！” 鲍勃打电话来，询问当年介绍他和格瑞丝认识的介绍人，现在葬在哪里。当然，这只是鲍勃打电话的借口。他们俩在电话里足足聊了三个半小时。通过聊天格瑞丝知道，鲍勃现在是个鳏夫，妻子在和他结婚48年后去世了。

“我从来没想过我们之间会发生什么。”鲍勃说道。

“我来告诉你发生了什么——你抛弃了我。”格瑞丝回复到。但是格瑞丝当年并没有狂怒。现在，她甚至是因为激动而有些发抖地和鲍勃通着电话。

从2005年新年这天开始，他们的电话通话变得异常频繁起来。 六个月后，在格瑞丝的家中，鲍勃和格瑞丝再次相见。这是半个世纪前他们分手后的第一次相见。一开始，鲍勃出现在格瑞丝的家门前，然后“我们手挽手地走了进去，就好像我们多年来都是这么做的一样。”格瑞丝说道。

很快，一天，鲍勃又向格瑞丝求婚了，“我想我应该给你买一枚订婚戒指。”鲍勃对格瑞丝说。

“不必了,”格瑞丝回答道：“我已经有一枚了。”

“谁给你的?”

“当然是你啦，傻瓜，五十年前你给我的。”

这次，鲍勃再也没有跑掉了。

附：读者文摘原文

She Forgave
As blind dates go, it was a good one. The year was 1950, and some friends figured that 20-year-old Grace Miltenberger might like their fellow Marine, Bob. They were right. “I thought he was the most handsome man in the world, and I fell right in love with him,” she says. It was mutual.They dated happily for almost a year, then Bob up and disappeared. No calls, no visits and, most maddeningly, no explanations.Not one to wallow, Grace enlisted in the Marines. Four years later, she and Bob hooked up again. Neither remembers the exact circumstances, but Grace does recall, “I still loved him.” And after a few months, her finger sported a big, fat diamond engagement ring.Then it happened again. In October 1954, she got a call from Bob saying he couldn’t go through with it. No reason given; he just couldn’t do it.“The not knowing why is what hurt the most,” says Grace.As before, she collected herself. In 1958 she married another man, and over the years, the couple had five daughters. But the marriage was an unhappy one, and adding to Grace’s anxiety was a secret she kept from her husband. Taped to the underside of a dresser drawer was the engagement ring Bob had given her. After what he put her through, most people might have pawned it or tossed it in a river. But not Grace. “I never stopped loving him,” she says.

When her faltering marriage dissolved in 1969, Grace devoted herself to her daughters and to getting degrees in sociology and nursing. Fast-forward to 2004. The phone rings. A voice says, “Gracie?”

“I threw the phone in the air and said, ‘Oh, my God. It’s Bob.’”

He’d called under the pretense of finding out where the guy who’d introduced them was buried. Three and a half hours later, they hung up. During their chat, Grace learned that Bob was a widower after 48 years of marriage.

“I never figured out what happened to us,” he said at one point.

“I’ll tell you what happened—you dumped me.” But she wasn’t mad. She was thrilled to be talking to him.

On New Year’s Day, 2005, they became engaged over the phone. Six months later, Bob visited Grace at her home outside Tulsa. It was the first time they’d seen each other in half a century. He showed up at her doorstep, and, she says, “we just walked into each other’s arms like we’d always been together.”

On the day he popped the question, Bob said, “Now I guess I’ve got to get you a ring.”

“No,” she said. “I’ve got one.”

“Who gave you that?”

“You did, you big, dumb jerk. Fifty years ago.”

This time, Bob didn’t run away.