Happily Ever After, Without You

and soon, the lights of Portland twinkled below. Sarah

s, waving a hand-drawn "Welcome Home Mommy!" sign. Leo' s

rieked, wriggl

rah' s arms, and Leo' s

a high school history teacher, solid, kind, with a laugh that alwa

comfortable clutter of family life. Dinner was simple – spaghetti, a salad. Leo chattered about his day at kin

g, the cool evening air a welcome change from Boston' s humidity. She

ned, his ar

ite history, huh?" he

ack for a moment," Sarah adm

id gently. "All that pressure, the image.

ents who valued her creativity, not her social connections. On weekends, they went to farmers' markets, hiked in th

had left behind in Boston. A world where love could be so easily manipulated, so cruelly discarded. Here, with David and Leo, she was truly herself, tr