Pip & Estella's Love Story

Pip & Estella's Love Story
I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.
Estella
It's been three years since Pip and I were married. It really wasn't that much different than my last wedding. It wasn't anything special if you ask me. Just like any other wedding the only people who witnessed us that day were the priest and God.
The night of our wedding Pip looked me in the eye and said, 'This is the day I have been dreaming about for my entire life. The day I thought would never happen. I am marrying my cold, beautiful, heartless, and mysterious Estella.' I remember thinking, 'He is the one who is in love with me, why is he calling me heartless. He knew what he was getting himself into.'
After we were legally wed, we went to visit Joe, Biddy, and their children. Pip told me that he had never seen Joe grin so wide and Biddy's eye sparkle so much. They were overjoyed at our news. They wished us well as we were leaving to relay the news to Herbert and Clara.
Herbert and Clara were just as ecstatic as Joe and Biddy were. They were so overjoyed that they told us we should buy the house down the street from them so that we could be neighbors. Pip thought it was a great idea, so we purchased the house that weekend.
The next year wasn't anything special. I could tell Pip was always happy, I didn't really know why though. It's not like our life was special. One night he asked me something that I probably had coming.
He asked, 'Are you happy with everything I have given you, or do you wish I was a rich gentleman?'
I told him exactly what I was thinking, I said, 'It's a good life.' I meant it, our life was good. I didn't want all of the money like I did before.
Not too long after this conversation, we heard a knock at the door. When Pip answered the door I saw two strange men in uniform, they handed Pip a letter and told him to have a good night.
He opened the letter and told me that he was being drafted into the military and that he was to leave in two nights. I just nodded and went off to bed. I didn't think there was any other way to to acknowledge him.
Two days later we went to where Pip was to board the ship and we said our goodbyes. I didn't cry.
Pip was gone for two years and every month he wrote to me. I only wrote back once because I didn't know what to say. What was there to say?
On a cool December evening the same two men that knocked on the door two years ago showed up. They said Pip was shot in the stomach and he was coming back home. They also told me he probably wouldn't make it until Christmas.
Everyone visited him while he was in the process of healing. I never left.
One night Pip said to me, 'Everything will be fine when I'm gone. You can live with Joe and Biddy.' I didn't know what he was talking about. Should I have been worried?
The day before Christmas Eve I felt something change inside of me. I didn't know what it was. I just knew I wasn't ready to give him up yet.
...
    Pip died on Christmas Eve at 9:02 p.m. A week after his death I found his writing and read it all. I never realized how in love with me he actually was. After getting to the part where Pip saw a change in my eyes, I cried the tears I should have so long ago. The tears I should have shed when Pip went off to war, the tears I should have shed while Pip was losing his life. Why did it take me this long to realize it? Why couldn't I have loved him sooner? That change he saw was my heart. Pip completed me, he gave me a heart. I would do anything if I could just see him one more time and tell  him. Tell him what he did for me and tell him how much he meant to me. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I could tell him everything.
"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."
~William Shakespeare