When Love Became A Transaction

neighborhood looking alien and hostile. The world outsi

ome now tainted by betrayal. The first thing I saw

er was

r shared dreams. A hand-painted mural of stars and clouds covered one wall. A crib, painstakingly assembled by

with the pure, unadulterated joy of a grandmother-to-be. "Look at this, isn't it the c

"Ethan? What is it? You're white as a

st shook my head, a si

y brought home. Then she looked past me, down the hall, expecting to see Olivia wa

he looked at me, then at the empty space where Olivia' s belly

oice breaking. "There

ld her from the grotesque truth. But one look

crumbling. "Oh, God, no. Not

lling to the floor. The sight of it, a small patch of blue on the beige carpet, br

aking my shoulder. We stood there, two shipwrecked sou

suffocating calm, we sat in the living room. The silence

r asked, her voice raw. "The doc

uld I explain that her daughter-in-law had sacrifice

he partial truth feeling

ly trusted Olivia, had always seen a flick

, her tone hardening. "Why isn'

ospital," I mumble

" The question was sha

the answer she needed. A look

slithered back into her life. To leave you alone at a time li

's compl

wife. A mother is supposed to mourn her child. She is doing neither. She is with another man.

ome and face what she's done. Or so help me, I will go to that hospital and drag her out myself. Th

d as I sat there, surrounded by the ghosts of my futur

strange attachment to her past. I had paid her debts, funded her failed business ideas, supported her

y. I wasn't her partner, I realized with a sickening lurch. I was her enabler. I had paid for the rope she used to hang me. The illusion of our happy life, ou

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