a R

__

s him, clapping him

My body quivers with the weight of my sorrow. "Why didn

She doesn't protest. She keeps quiet, unwilling to ruin the ceremony. She moves toward me, her hands gentle as she wraps an arm around

No, Granny... No, no, no..." The word feels like a curse as I w

unable to watch me fall apart. His mother, busy complimenting Maria on her wedding dress, only serves to deepen the wound in my chest. Vincent's father, however, turns

find the strength to move toward Maria. I walk as if on broken glass, my legs unsteady, my mind fighting

don't be with him... don't take him from me." I know, deep down, that the divorce is final, that the pa

guilt and determinati

ers, her voice soft but reso

n my face, my chest heaving with the agony o

She sees the finality in him, the indifference that sears through her, and she knows. He's m

, and takes my hands in hers. "Rose..." sh

ad, unable to

ranger. He left me for an illness, for my inability to give him children. And seeing him with another woman, the one who will carry his child,

avy air, snapping everyone to attention. "The marriage is official. The

leg with all the strength I have left, my body shaking with sobs. "Please, Vincent, please don't leave me." "You promised... you promised you'd love me forever. You prom

. Pain? Regret? But then it's gone, and he hardens again. He pulls his leg away from my desperat

you, and yet you divorced me." My words barely reach him, but I can't stop myse

g to pull me away from him with such tenderness that it feels like a betray

ing up at her, my heart shattering un

close, rocking me gently. "I know, darling... I know, but he is no longer yours. He never was," she murmurs, her voi

will continue. Remove her from the room. Take her to the basement

ed on me like predators closing in. And I realize this is it. I'll be

those who take, never for those who lo