CHAPTER 44

With shocking, devastating suddenness their affair was over.

‘I love you, Rhiannon. I love that sweet baby growing up inside you… You two are what’s important to me…’

His words were still haunting her. Rhiannon stared up at her bedroom ceiling. Feeling lost and uncertain, she’d been staring at it for hours. Rhiannon had known she’d be hurt when he left her, but the pain that pulsed in the center of her being was too much to bear.

It was as if all hope for happiness was draining out of her like blood seeping from a fatal wound.

Hours later, when the sun turned the rooftops in her neighborhood bloodred, she got up, dressed, and walked out of her apartment, feeling heavy from her long, sleepless night.

Hoping to clear her head, Rhiannon made her way toward the park. She wanted to be around noisy cars on their way to offices and schools, around people rushing to catch buses or subway trains.

Near the park, she bought he