Friends tried to set me up with new people, but I wasn’t ready. How could I trust again when the two people closest to me had turned my life upside down?
And then, in the middle of that lonely fog, came something unexpected — a child.
Only a handful of people knew. I kept my pregnancy quiet, guarding my secret fiercely. When Jacob was born, I held him in my arms and realized that, despite everything, life had given me something pure.
Raising him alone was hard — impossibly hard some days — but he filled my world with meaning again. His laughter replaced the silence in my apartment. His little arms around my neck made every sleepless night worth it.
For four years, I lived quietly. No drama. No contact with my family. Just me and my son, building something steady from the ashes.
The Day the Past Came Back
It was a crisp autumn afternoon when my past came walking back into my life.
Jacob and I were leaving the downtown farmer’s market, a bag of apples swinging from my wrist, when I heard someone call my name.
“Claire?”
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