y was at its peak, ce
ht my marriage to Isabell
rf
ifty, Bell
ssive, the doctors sa
hite hospital bed, a gho
s a rasp, he
ispered, her ha
... Mark
ons. Mark, twenty, and A
not yours
in the air, hea
y mind blank, refu
t are you sa
dropping into still water. "My co
n her voice,
flat st
wi
em. They need to kno
oor o
worn, a cheap guitar case
y
m old college photos of Bell
t me, a flicker of somethi
a weak, triu
re," she
ex arrived
umb, as Bell
y called father for t
nger, Ryan, was the
confusion, maybe e
I saw cal
e pragmatic one, loo
nce thought mirrore
ld be ours, with our real father,"
ed, his g
arent, but as a new avenue to the
wea
mpany
fe I p
n's side, a unite
ke an outsider
s
her, h
's s
ysical blow, stealing
familiar pain, but
k, stress, it ha
ion, the docto
rable weight pr
was too sm
on a lie, had