Gretchen stood beside him in an elegant black dress, dabbing at her eyes with a lace handkerchief, playing the devoted assistant supporting her employer through an unthinkable loss.

In the front rows sat insurance representatives and corporate attorneys — the fifty-million-dollar claim was processed and approved, awaiting only the final signature that this public memorial would provide.

Brandon stepped up to the podium, gripped its edges, and arranged his face into a picture of a broken man.

“My wife was my entire world,” he began, his voice cracking on cue, tears welling in his eyes.

“To lose her like this.

To lose our sweet unborn son, in that freezing, terrible place.