No Forgiveness:He's Not The One

and withdrawn. I felt a crushing weight of failure. I had tried to fix things, to bring her father

; it was just a space filled with the ghosts of what we used to be. Lily went st

ing the worn, one-eyed teddy bear David had won for her at a carn

whispered.

orry for what, sweetie? You h

filling with tears. "He left because

innocent child was blaming herself for her father' s

her hair. "Daddy is not mad at you. He's just... confused righ

ctoria going to be my new mommy?" she asked, her voice so quiet I could barely hear it.

een screaming in my own mind. I was a successful architect. I designed buildings that were strong and bea

my voice steady. "That will n

as the hysterical wife, the "plain" woman who was an obstacle to his happiness. Victoria was the past he couldn't

upset of the day, so I gave her some children's Tylenol and tucked her into bed.

The room was dark, but a sliver of moonlight fell across Lily' s bed. She was thrashing, her body rig

te, seized me. "Lily!

febrile seizure. I knew what it was from parenting books, but s

me to lay Lily on her side and make sure she couldn't hurt herself. While I waited

to voicemail. "David Patterson is u

e phone. "It's Lily! She's sick, she

again. V

. Voi

he with them? Was he so lost in his other life that

my frantic terror. They worked quickly, assessing Lily, getting her sta

nd. As they carried Lily out on a small gurney, I felt

p hand, whispering her name over and over. When we were a few blocks from the hospit

en I s

am sundae. David was laughing, his head thrown back, a picture of pure, carefree joy. He took a spoonful of whipped cream and p

s, racing to the hospital with our gravely ill daughter, and there he w

him, the hope I had clung to, it all evaporated in that single, brutal moment, leaving behind nothing but the cold, ha