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Chapter 19

Hawke

I had a baby with Vale

Vale and I created a life

Tiny Perfect

Not so perfect

Fleeting

Vale clings on to htly, her face now pressed back into y and absolution I try to reiterate to her over and over again that the e wasn’t her fault Now is not the tiht, I’ll ultimately need to convince her that it wasn’t "our" fault either She seems to want to put so that our utter devotion to and consunorant of life

I don’t agree with this

Not at all

She finally quiets My words dry up, but I continue to hold her, one hand trailing up and down her back in soothing strokes Been so long since I’ve held her like this, and I never thought I’d live to see the day it would happen again In ht, so comfortable In other ways, it feels aard, because Vale and I are completely different people than ere then I wonder, had this one horrific event not occurred, would we have grown together over the years, or apart?

I’d like to think together, because despite the fact ere young and probably clueless as to what real co we had that I’ve never found again, and I’ of our souls

I know it sounds hokey, but I felt it Down in h my core An intense connection with Vale that I’m not even sure I felt with my parents, as much as I love them

Sadly, I don’t feel it now, not the way I did before I feel a fluttering, or perhaps it’s a reawakening, and itterht now--I know exactly where we’re going