The crack of the last strike echoed long after my head stopped spinning, followed by the curse he hurled down like a sentence:
“NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE YOU OR THESE KIDS!”
I had grown accustomed to the taste of his poison, sipping it slowly since 2010 until survival itself required it. I forgot what clean air felt like. In the mirror, I no longer recognized the woman looking back; I only saw a shadow, bartering her own skin for quiet nights, building a shield of flesh to keep his violence away from my children.
But the crystal ball didn’t predict a anti-venom. It sent me you.
Without rush or demand, without a shred of pressure or guilt, you simply loved me. You welcomed all of me even the parts that weren’t easy. Through patience and quiet education, you learned the language of my scars, my pain, and my anxieties. Rather than backing away from the dark, you held those pieces close, carrying them as if they belonged to you.
And more than me, you love the five little hearts running around outside of my body. They may not have your biological DNA in their veins, but your love is woven into every other facet of their world.
Sometimes, I wish I could reach across time and tap twenty-year-old me on the shoulder, begging her to refuse the poison. It bought him control, but it cost me my own reflection until nothing of myself was left.
But the pain is gone. Now, there is only a love out of storybooks and rom-coms—the kind of love strangers ask for the “word for word prayer” to manifest.
He told me no one would ever love me or these kids, and in a way, he was right. It takes a somebody like you to love us this fiercely. You are MY body, MY whole world, and OUR entire universe.
We love you, my FIANCÉ! ❤️❤️❤️
So glad you found each other