He looked at me with huge eyes. “Did I do bad?”
That nearly undid me. I crouched in my wedding dress and took his little face in my hands. “No, sweetheart. You told the truth. You did nothing wrong.”
His lower lip trembled. “Are you still mad?”
“Did I do bad?”
“I’m not mad at you. I love you.”
He threw his arms around my neck, and I held him the way I had imagined holding him after this wedding, after school plays, after skinned knees, after nightmares.
I let myself feel the full loss of it because there was no avoiding it now.
When I pulled back, I kissed his forehead. Then I turned and walked through the doors. I couldn’t bear to stay there any longer. Dana appeared out of nowhere and fell in step beside me.
Then my father was there, red-faced with fury, falling in on my other side.
No one tried to stop me.
I let myself feel the full loss of it.
As we walked to the car, I heard the church doors open behind us. I turned, thinking maybe Andrew had followed.
It was Elena. She stood at the top of the steps, one hand on the rail. “I’m sorry.”
I looked at her for a long moment. “Don’t stay with him just because he finally got caught. He didn’t stand up for you, and he would’ve carried on lying forever if it weren’t for Liam.”
Her face crumpled in a way that told me I hadn’t said anything she didn’t already know.
Then I got into the car and shut the door.
I turned, thinking maybe Andrew had followed.
Six months later, everything looked different.
Elena had filed for custody and won, and I stood by her every step of the way.
What started as shared heartbreak slowly turned into something steadier — quiet support, unexpected friendship, and a bond neither of us had planned.
Sometimes I’d visit, and Liam would run into my arms as if nothing had ever broken. And in those moments, I realized that not every ending takes something away — some give you a different kind of family.
What started as shared heartbreak slowly turned into something steadier.