Question about Dua from Tahajjud and Umrah - Why didn’t it happen?

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته I’ll get straight to it. A few years ago I was involved in a haram relationship with a Muslim sister. Alhamdulillah we both left that for the sake of Allah. I missed her and kept praying tahajjud asking Allah to make our relationship halal and allow us to marry. At the same time my family and I went for Umrah, and I made many duas there as well. A couple of months later I broke contact and reached out to her. We didn’t include her wali (I know that was a mistake), but we talked and mutually agreed we wanted to marry. A few months after that I discovered something about her that was very troubling and could’ve affected a future marriage. For about eight months we tried to work through it, had many emotional and difficult conversations, ups and downs. In the end we both chose to step away again for the sake of Allah and leave the matter to qadr. That’s where things stand now. I have doubts about whether she’s the right person, and there’s a real possibility I won’t marry her and may consider other halal options. My concern is this: I made sincere dua in tahajjud, at holy places during Umrah, and in Ramadan nights (like odd nights of Laylat al-Qadr), specifically asking “Ya Allah, let me marry her.” Now it seems that prayer wasn’t answered in the way I asked. How do these duas work? People often say tahajjud duas are answered - so why didn’t this one turn out as I requested? JazakAllah khair for any insight or advice.