“So you tracked us down?”
He hung his head, not looking at me. “I never meant to fall in love with you, Jess. I didn’t. I just wanted to be close to the child Lydia had wanted so badly. The boy I promised to find for her.”
I stared at him. He wasn’t a monster, but this wasn’t love.
I faced the room.
“The engagement is off.”
The weeks that followed were hard. There were lawyers, tears, and hard explanations. I filed a restraining order to make sure Willie stayed safe.
He wasn’t a monster, but this wasn’t love.
A month later, I was tucking Willie into bed when he looked up at me with a serious expression.
“Mom? Are we okay?”
I leaned down and kissed his forehead. I thought about Mark and Harold, and then I thought about the boy in front of me who trusted me to keep the pieces together.
“You and I are always okay, sweetie. No matter what happens around us, I will always make sure we’re good.”
He smiled and closed his eyes. “Okay, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I stepped out into the hall. My heart was a little more broken than it was before, but the future looked bright.
“No matter what happens around us, I will always make sure we’re good.”
If you could give one piece of advice to anyone in this story, what would it be? Let’s talk about it in the Facebook comments.
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