PART 7 — NOTE: The narrator makes peace with her past and decides what future she wants. This part focuses on healing and personal strength.
A year later, my son took his first steps.
I cried.
Not because of the milestone alone.
Because I remembered the day when I sat on that bathroom floor wondering how everything had become so dangerous.
Life looked different now.
My husband and I were not magically healed.
Trust was not rebuilt overnight.
But he worked.
He listened.
He learned.
And most importantly, he stopped asking me to forget.
He understood that forgiveness was not the same as pretending nothing happened.
Some wounds leave marks.
But marks are proof that healing happened.
