An Atonement of Love

ling, the man I'd loved since childh

am, blinded by grief, believed my own innocent

t with love, but wi

r-onto the marble floor, its clatter echoing the

ancer I hadn't revealed, believing it

, falsely imprisoned for embezzlement

rate pleas, denied him

tal news came: my f

elty es

the dutiful fiancée, only to publicly destroy a cherished gift

terminal diagnosis, he scoffed

abricated a monstrous lie: a misca

vengeance on me for killin

d he be

protect me become this cruel str

cancer dismissed as an elaborate trick, and

shock over my father's death an

rapped, unable to prove my innocence, ques

ained-a silent promise that the truth, h