Chapter 14: The Confession That Almost Happened
Two days later, I almost told him.
We were sitting on the couch after dinner. Ryan had his arm around me, and we were watching some mindless show on TV. For a moment, it almost felt normal.
Then he said something that broke me.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “I don’t say it enough, but I do. Even when you’re distant like this, even when I don’t understand what’s going on with you… I still love you.”
I looked at him.
And for the first time in years, I felt something crack inside my chest.
I opened my mouth.
The words were right there.
I poisoned your mother. I killed her slowly over four years. I made her suffer because she killed our baby.
But I couldn’t say them.
Instead, I started crying.
Ryan pulled me into his arms immediately.
“Hey,” he said gently. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we can get through it together.”
I cried harder.
Because I knew we couldn’t.
If he knew the truth, there would be no “together” anymore.
So I lied.
“I’m just overwhelmed,” I whispered. “Everything with your mom… it’s been harder than I thought.”
Ryan held me tighter.
“We’ll be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
I closed my eyes and let him comfort me.
But deep down, I knew the truth.
We wouldn’t be okay.
May you like
Because I had done something unforgivable.
And no matter how much I pretended, that truth would always be there between us.
