(Kate's POV)
But how can I admit that?
"I'm protecting everyone. Ethan from making a mistake he'll regret. Sabrina from a marriage that will destroy her. Jake from growing up in a household where his mother is slowly broken down by the weight of a name she was never meant to carry."
"But you don't know that will happen."
"Don't I? I've seen it happen before. Watched it happen to the woman I cared about as more than a daughter-in-law. Evelyn was strong. Confident. Brilliant. And Stephen's abandonment killed her as surely as the tumor did."
I move to the refrigerator. Jake's drawings are back. All thirteen of them. Held up by magnets in a chaotic display that would make any proper household cringe.
I reach out and touch one. A dinosaur family. Three of them holding hands.
Mom. Jake. N
