Linda Carver had imagined her son’s wedding unfolding like a cherished memory she could tuck into her heart forever. After raising Michael on her own and watching him build a life filled with opportunities she had worked tirelessly to give him, she hoped his special day in Napa Valley would be a moment of connection. The sky was clear, the vineyard hills shimmered in the late afternoon sun, and the ceremony felt almost unreal in its beauty.
But as the celebration shifted into the dinner hour, something inside her began to sink.
