PART 1 — THE ENVELOPE

When I met Julian Vance, I truly fell in love.

Our relationship felt almost like something from a storybook.

Julian was kind, patient, hardworking, and the father of ten children.

Yes.

Ten.

His wife had passed away several years earlier, leaving him to raise them mostly on his own.

The oldest, Marcus, was thirteen when I first met him.

The youngest twins were barely three.

Between them were eight other children who seemed to fill every room they entered with noise, arguments, laughter, spilled juice, lost shoes, school papers, half-finished art projects, and more laundry than I had ever believed one family could produce.

I loved them before I was ready to admit it.

And when Julian proposed, I did not hesitate.

Our wedding was scheduled for early autumn.

Then, one week before the ceremony, I woke up and Julian was gone.

His side of the bed was cold.

His clothes were missing.

His car was gone.

At first I thought he had gone out early.

Then I saw the note on the kitchen table.