couch, a modest kitchen table, and a bed that barely fit against the far wall-but it was hers. Every creak in the floor, every

days since she le

f silence f

her body turning to the other side of the be

feared they would try to convince her to go back, to reconsider. And another part... the deep

er face was paler, her cheekbones more defined than usual. The dark circles under her eyes betrayed h

her palm to

al, as Kaelan's family had so kindly put it. Infertile. Inadequate. A ba

just her womb

was

er everything, her

th his cousins, the dinners where the only thing on the table thicker than the soup was the tension. She had given and given unt

plac

at didn't i

ed air. She needed a distraction. So she took the train downtown and wandered

okstores. The air smelled of oil paint and wood varnish. Abstract canvases filled the walls-chaotic strokes

se, huh?" a voice

painting she had been staring at-an explosion of jagged lines a

like it," she

aid. "But I can't

tly. "Maybe tha

r. "You look like yo

obvi

ple who've h

so did he-off to the next painting, off to the next thought. But his wor

nce. The gallery, the stranger, the silence-they all reminded her of something she had forgotten: she

uld sit in the garden behind her dorm and lose herself in watercolors, sketching faces that di

sketchpad she'd thrown in during the move.

, stared at it for a long t

hand trembled.

But one hand was fading, the lines softer, like it was d

eath h

pped th

ears

l

nting. She sank to the floor, hugging her knees, rocking herself as the flood of emoti

for what s

she had

rself that she had gi

ed. She sat in the corner of the living room

't feel

felt c

received a letter. Handwr

iliar slant of the cursive

el

gers, she unfolded

es

rst way. I know I chose cowardice over courage. But please know-losing y

is: I was wrong. About everything. About what family means. About what legacy me

my home,

ver long it takes-for yo

Ka

er back up. A dozen thoughts swirled thro

n't know wh

t

eeded

ace to become

elan's

an who was

man who ch