A Mother's Strength, A Wife's Fall

nd picture on my kitchen island, a grainy

s intern, Lily, barely legal and with a hand prote

d, "It' s David' s." The words

thing for, couldn' t meet my eyes. H

walked past me and handed Lily a glass of

, just listen. Dad made a mistake. Lily is

. Not just my husband, but my

arah, I don' t want to break up your family. We can make t

She wanted me to raise my husband

os. David, Lily, and Alex stood there, a new

d through me. This wasn' t

hitectural license and, due to the stress, an ectopic pregnancy that left me unable to

My sacrifices, my body, my

vering for David and Lily f

lex declared, his eyes full of contempt. "Maybe if you paid more atten

at their united faces. My heart di

voice dead. "All of you. I want no

ened the bottom drawer of my desk

placing the papers on the coff

nothing without him. W

, asking me not to fight for the rest of the assets-

else to stay," he said. "Lily' s pregnancy... a

home, the sanctuary I had buil

me. It wasn' t my home anymore;

l be gone by the end of th