Chapter 5
Grant tried to come back when the money disappeared.
He arrived at my temporary apartment with rain on his coat and panic in his eyes.
“I made mistakes,” he said.
“You made choices.”
“I love you.”
“You left me while I was dying.”
He stepped closer.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
His eyes filled with tears.
For years, I had believed his tears meant remorse.
Now I knew they often meant fear of consequences.
“You can’t take everything from me,” he said.
“I am not taking anything. You signed away your rights when you abandoned me.”
“This is about money to you?”
I looked past him at the nursery.
“No. It is about the night my children entered this world and you decided they did not matter.”
Grant’s voice rose.
“You are turning them against me.”
“No. You did that yourself.”
He left only after Amanda reminded him the protective order would be expanded if he returned uninvited.
That night, I cried.
Not because I wanted him back.
Because I finally accepted that the man I loved had never loved me the way I deserved.
May you like
It hurt.
But accepting pain was the beginning of healing.
