Berr

t surfaced. Elliott's cruel words. He was not wr

resisted at first. I did not even know him. I had never met him. But then, my grandmother fell gravely ill

ge. He acted as if my grandmother, his own mother, was not his responsibility. He cried in front of me, claiming the

or me. One that had nothing to do with money, and everything t

he ground, and the moon shone brightly in the courtyard. His face, soft in the moonlight, see

nything," he said.

e. He could not defy his family's wishes. He felt trapped. I

t pity for him. I imagined his life if he married me instead of the woman he loved. It w

sand dollars for my grandmother's m

pleaded with the man, nearly on his knees. He begged him for something. He was working hard t

no idea that forces far larger than either of us were