I came home from the hospital with my newborn pressed to my chest, my heart racing with both exhaustion and hope. I thought I would walk into warmth, into arms waiting for me. But instead—my husband was nowhere to be seen. And when I opened the front door, I froze. A woman stood there. Smiling. Wearing my silk robe as if she belonged in it. Her posture was confident, her glossy hair falling in waves, her lips painted perfectly pink. The sight made my blood run cold. I had waited

“Breathe, breathe. It’s going to be okay,” Thomas whispered gently, keeping pace with the gurney as it rolled through the hospital corridor. His hand never left his sister’s, even as she winced in pain. Leah’s forehead was damp with sweat, her breaths coming in short gasps. “You… you’re the best brother… anyone could ask for, Thomas,” she murmured, her voice barely audible over the squeak of the wheels and the distant beeping of monitors. She was only thirty-six weeks pregnant when the labor began, and the doctors had insisted on

Five years after losing my wife, my daughter and I went to my best friend’s wedding. I thought it was going to be a happy day, but my entire world shattered the moment he lifted the bride’s veil. My little girl looked up at me and whispered, “Daddy, why are you crying?” And then, the bride’s eyes locked with mine—and in that instant, everything collapsed. I never even planned to be at that wedding, or any wedding for that matter. It all began years earlier, on a night I hadn’t