Richard stared at me as though I’d become a stranger.

In a way, I had. I no longer recognized the frightened woman who had spent twenty-three years making herself smaller to keep from upsetting him.

Standing between him and Elliot, I felt as though I were finally meeting the person I should have been all along.

Six weeks later, Elliot and I were living in a modest apartment across town with Nina and baby Helen.

Nina recovered and went back to studying for her nursing certification.

Caroline came by every Sunday, usually with groceries and jokes far worse than she realized.