(Sabrina's POV)
Kate is quiet for a long moment. Then she starts talking.
"He was seven when his mother died. Brain tumor. Inoperable. We had eighteen months from diagnosis to... the end." Her voice catches. "Stephen—Ethan's father—he couldn't handle the pressure and lost himself in work, alcohol, women. Anything that let him avoid confronting the truth of his wife's impending death."
Jake has gone still against me. Listening.
"So I moved into their house and raised him myself. I made sure he got to school. Did his homework. Had dinner every night. All the things a parent should do but Stephen couldn't."
"That must have been hard."
"It was. But I made it work. Ethan needed stability. Structure. Someone who wouldn't abandon him when things got difficult. And I took it upon myself to g
