“I don’t get it, Mommy. Where’s Mr. Gabriel? He was so nice to me,” Lily asked, her little voice cracking with confusion as she sat cross-legged on the floor. Her wide brown eyes searched my face for an answer I didn’t know how to give.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and crouched down beside her. “Sweetheart, sometimes adults don’t always get along, and things change. But it doesn’t mean Mr. Gabriel doesn’t care about you.”
I brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, my heart aching for her innocence. She had never asked for any of this. None of us had. But the media storm, the lies, the cruelty, had pushed Gabriel and me to the brink.
“Is he coming back?” she asked, her voice small.
I hesitated, not knowing how to answer that without breaking down in front of her. “I don’t know, b
