On my wedding day, I walked in with a black eye. My fiancé stood beside me… and when he looked at my mother, he smiled. Then he said, “She needed to learn.” The room burst into laughter. And that’s when I did something no one expected.
Aunt Linda placed a hand over Olivia’s, her voice steady and sure. “What happened in there was the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts. But you cannot live your life pretending everything is fine when it’s not. You’ve taken the first step toward freedom.”
Olivia swallowed, feeling a knot in her throat. “I don’t know who I am anymore.”
