lost a piece of myself. My heart

crifice her life to atone for our child's. Jeremy, predictably, scooped her up, carrying her down like

lly pulled away from Donnie, cutting all ties, at least physically. He came back to me, broken and repentant, swea

table, sliding them across the polished woo

hispered, his voice trembling, "no. Please. Don't do this." Te

d again tonight. He swore on everything he held dear. He confessed his sins, his fo

like they had been when we were teenagers, when he'

my, in his varsity jacket, bringing me flowers every Friday. There he was again, my college sweethe

vel. It was woven into the very fabric of my being, an indelible part of m

He had been my rock, my refuge. He' d driven me to countless doctors, brewed foul-smelling herbal teas, soaked my feet in warm

ad that connected me to my past, to who I was. I felt like a fool,

oman who clung to hope, to a shared history, to the faint echo of a love that

ng like acid, that I had effectively wasted th