(Scarlett’s POV)
I hand Lily her bunny and she clutches it tight. "Let's get you back to bed."
She doesn't argue, settling into her pillow with the stuffed animal. I sing her the lullaby I've been singing since she was born, watching her eyelids grow heavy.
"Mama?" she whispers just as I think she's fallen asleep.
"Yes?"
"I'm glad Daddy saved you."
"Me too, sweetheart. Me too."
When I'm sure she's finally asleep, I lie awake staring at the ceiling.
The tears come without warning, hot and relentless, streaming down my face as I sob quietly, trying not to wake Lily.
But the pain feels too big for my body to contain. It's not just grief for what we lost—it's grief for what we could have been. Who we could have been together if circumstances had been different.
The boy who waited two
