Family Comes First

I blinked through the haze of heavy medication. “What are you talking about?”

She turned the screen toward me. There he was—smiling beside Pamela, holding champagne, surrounded by relatives beneath gold balloons. The caption said that family always comes first.

Something inside me went silent.

A nurse came in to check my vitals and saw my face. “Do you feel safe going home with your husband?” she asked.

It was such a simple question. But it opened a door I’d spent years pretending was only a wall.

I thought about every time Cameron had dismissed my pain. Every time Pamela had called me sensitive. Every time I’d apologized just to keep the peace.