was signed s

laid it out on his

old leather, smoo

Ethan needs a

nt a stable image

eeds medical care,

g, my hands clasp

everyth

ess was a con

foundation woul

I marry Ethan, I stay marr

rural Vermont, and

love, for a real

with grand gestures

as nine months pregnan

ove had long s

mask for cruelty,

constant, brutal remin

pictures on his pho

ial media girl, alwa

reak anymore, it

appointment, a

elf, Ethan

street, a flashy sp

ly, then slammed in

spun, meta

my abdomen, shar

I saw the driver

looking shocked

She was drivin

ere, pulling Tiff

I gasped, reachi

, his face a mas

ng dramat

ys looking f

sing over Tiffany who w

y, babe?" he

ook back as he l

eft me

edical attenti

little girl I had

me while I was still n

accident, it had been too

sis, the do

or enduring seven ye

hing w

. My last shre

he hospital hours later, re

mpatient, n

s the big

him, his old face etched w

voice flat, devoid of

a divorc

e ridiculous. What a

aid, the words like

eement i

inched, his g

s narcissism making h

Lily?

," I said. "She's gone

y at that, a flicker of

ch

Because of the accident

pped forward,

urity footage from the street. Yo

nish. He looke

any, laughing, while I was

r. "It wasn't my fault!

car, Ethan," Arthur Sr

doned your pr

, a deep wearin

will have yo

what my family has

d vast, washed

, Mr. Haye

e can be buried with yo

taking Li

ple urn the hospital had

thing I would ta

oing back