e were a blur of physical a

my body heal while my mind tried

nstant reminder of the choice I had made, a cho

g enough, I went

another one of his

hat had once felt like home

of jewelry, every designer bag, ever

a local charity, and left them on t

want hi

part of the life h

er, finding me sitting in t

furniture and assumed I was sti

rition. "It was an emergency with a client. I' ll make it up to you

o thick I could

ware, living in the f

ired to argue, too f

to feel the baby that was no l

, my voice flat. "The doc

able lie, and he accept

er, my mot

was planning a small famil

l, oblivious to the storm her words created. "It' s been

id as I relayed

r light flicker

d, almost too quickly. "It wil

for me, but for th

a cold, hard kno

rty, David handed m

," he said. "A little

ened

silver necklace, a single whale t

, and completely unlike a

for S

f her in his study, we

ir was thick with f

n, she

iking in person, with an easy

uch like me it

s followed h

of the complex drama

don' t you?" my uncle boomed.

, charming smile that

e was strained as

ed as David ga

up as she o

her fingers tracing the whale tail. "

," David lied smoot

e, my express

nal act of this c

grilled shrimp was

gic to shellfish, a

ice as I carefully

tention was ent

without a word, he took her plate, neatly peeled s

intimacy that spoke of years of shar

t look a

ly forgotten I

ent, I wasn

t even a

space next to the w