I knew Travis loved me.
I also knew his mother wished I would disappear.
From the first day I met her, she looked at me as if I had stolen something precious from her. She never called me by my name. To her, I was always that girl.
Travis never noticed.
Whenever his mother criticized me, he would squeeze my hand beneath the table and whisper, “Ignore her. I chose you.”
Those words kept me strong.
Until one rainy evening, Travis came home unusually quiet.
His mother had called him while I was at work.
“What did she say?” I asked.
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then he whispered, “Tracy… she told me something about you.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Travis reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope.
“I think you need to see this.”
And when I opened it, my entire world changed.
