Mark
I have delivered devastating news to families more times than I can count. I have told parents their child didn't survive the surgery. I have watched grief hit people in real time, watched their whole world rearrange itself in front of me while I stood there with nothing to offer but steadiness.
Nothing had prepared me for the particular helplessness of watching that same devastation cross Claire's face, knowing I was the one who'd caused it.
"Claire." I kept my voice low, steady, the same voice I use in a crisis, though nothing about my training had prepared me for this specific kind of crisis. "Please. Let us explain properly."
"I think you just did." Her voice was shaking now, the controlled quiet cracking at the edges. "You slept with my daughter before you even knew who she w
