with Mark was strange

one' s eyes. He was a promising artist, and I was a

e had never once talk

him, he said. The

n-law, the widow of his

the world," Mark would say, his voice full of a

g a child with Olivia. He want

s dying wish. It's my

ained it, was to hav

ng with his b

g to get her pregnant, while I waited for h

ad designed for u

is hands. "Just wait until Olivia gets pregnant. Once sh

ieved

wai

spent with her. One nigh

silent testament

e scent of Olivia' s perfume clinging to his clothes. Fifty-nine nights

y, Olivia announce

his face glowing with a joy I had never seen bef

It finally happened! W

own shining with what I thou

gs with my family, and then we'll get married. I'

d finally paid off. I thought my love had

elebrate the pregnancy. He invited all of our

his hand, with Olivia standing beside him,

miling, waiting for him

ooming through the speakers. "We are here to celebra

es filled with an adoration

ot down on

and more brilliant than the one he had ca

voice thick with emotio

pagne corks popped. People swarme

frozen i

roar in my ears. The smiling faces blur

eel anything

wait. This was the reward for my f

c humil

one noticed. I walked through the city streets,

hing I did was book a flight. A one-way ticke

e and dialed a number I h

up on the

ar

nd steady, was the first thin

started to fal

, my voice breaking. "