Page 114 of Broken Destiny

“What is it, Mama?” Lucas asked.

I took a slow breath.

“Nan-Nan is my biological mother.”

Lucas blinked several times as though trying to process the words.

“The mommy who gave birth to you?” he asked carefully.

I nodded slowly. “Yes.”

Emma’s eyes widened.

“Nan-Nan your mama?” she asked softly.

“She is,” I replied.

Emma smiled and hugged her bunny tighter. “Dat nice.”

Lucas smiled slowly after that before leaning against my shoulder. “That’s actually really cool.”

Emotion swelled painfully inside my chest as I wrapped an arm around both of them.

Karena left in the morning, and I rested for the next two days, allowing my body the time it needed to recover.

By the time the weekend approached, the wounds had begun to heal, and the throbbing in my head had eased into a dull ache that I could manage.

On Friday morning, I drove to the cemetery to visit Cole by myself.

Standing in front of his grave, I took a slow breath.

“Yeah,” I said softly. “Drunk drivers. You don’t have to worry about that sort of thing... do you?”

A giggle escaped my lips.

For a few minutes, I spoke to him, and before long, the words tangled together, and then the tears came.

Somehow, the conversation shifted, and I found myself talking about Caleb.

Guilt twisted painfully inside me as the confession spilled out.

I had loved Cole deeply. He had been my husband, my safe place, the man who helped rebuild me after my world fell apart.

But Caleb had been different.

Different from anything I had ever experienced with Harper or Cole.

He had been my first true love. The kind that branded itself onto a person’s soul so deeply that neither time nor distance could fully erase it.

I wiped my tears with trembling fingers and looked at his gravestone.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

A cool breeze brushed against my cheek, and for one impossible second, I felt as though he understood.

That afternoon, after lunch, I lay down for a nap.

Sleep came quickly, pulling me into a dream.