Her Pain, His Blindness

illing my nostrils, and replayed the events of the last twelve hours. The dismissal in Lily' s voice, the irritation in Mark' s, the profound loneliness of signing that

make him

becoming a second mother to him. Lily was the sister he never had. They grew up together, their bond forged in shared childhood memories. When Lily announced

lp find the best doctors, to drive Eleanor to her appointments. But my offers were gently, yet firmly, rejected. "You're so busy with your architecture firm

ew minutes later, a nurse handed me the file. My hands trembled as I took pictures of the key pages with my phone: the diagnosis of a ruptured ectopic pregna

was with Lily, who was picking at a scone, her eyes red-rimmed from a sleepless night worrying about her mother. He

asked, her voice soft and concerned. She leaned over,

arted to shake, and her eyes, which were already red, welled up with fresh tears. "Oh, Ma

k. "Lily, what are

on. I know how much she resents me and Mom being here. I told her you were busy. I didn't know... I didn't know it was real." She choked on

past few weeks, her accusations that he was distant, that he was spending too much time with Lily. He had dismissed it all as jealousy. Now, seeing Lily so distraught, her wor

childhood, surged to the surface. He saw Lily, fragile and grieving, a

reply to me, his thumbs

is a new low, even for you. Lily is already falling apart over her mother, a

edical report. Ridiculous games. The hope I had been clinging to, that tiny, fragile thread, snapped. He di

ke it was in my bones. I stared at his message, the cold, cruel words bur

ka

he phone onto the blanket. T