Amanda's POVThe afternoon sun filtered through the lace curtains of Milla’s bedroom, casting delicate, shifting patterns across the pastel walls, a soft beauty that felt like a mockery of the storm brewing inside me. I stood in the doorway, my arms crossed tightly, my frustration already simmering as I heard my daughter’s voice, bright and animated, talking on her phone. “Is it really true that you and Uncle Shawn got married out of nowhere, Aunt Ella?” Milla said, her smile wide, her eyes sparkling with that hero-worship she reserved for Ella. “That’s so romantic! Did you wear a big dress? Oh, tell me everything!” Her words twisted the knife of jealousy in my chest, sharp and bitter. Milla, with her boundless adoration for Ella, hung on every word Ella said, every story of her perfect life, her perfect love, her perfect everything. To Milla, Ella was a role model, an inspiration, the woman she wanted to be. Me? I was just her mother, invisible, ignored, never good enough. I’d sp
Celeste POVThe afternoon light filtered through the apartment windows, casting soft, golden shadows across the hardwood floor, a gentle contrast to the weight of the moment. Marcus sat in his wheelchair by the living room window, his hands gripping the armrests so tightly his knuckles were pale, his face a mix of determination and vulnerability that made my chest ache with a fierce, protective love. The past few weeks had been a relentless storm—hospital visits, sleepless nights, and the endless adjustments to his new reality as a paraplegic. His apartment, now remodeled with lower counters, wider doorways, and a ramp where stairs once stood, felt like a different world, one he was still learning to navigate. The changes were practical, necessary, but they screamed of his limitations, and I could see the toll it was taking on him. But it was his words that hit me hardest, cutting through the quiet like a knife, raw and jagged.“This isn’t going to be good for you, Celeste,” he sai
Marcus's POVThe hospital room had become an odd sort of sanctuary over the past few days, its sterile walls and rhythmic beeps a constant backdrop to the new reality I was grappling with. But today, I was finally leaving, heading back to my apartment—not as the man I used to be, but as someone new, someone confined to a wheelchair. The thought sent a jolt of panic through me, sharp and cold, though I tried to push it down, focusing on the weight of the hospital blanket across my lap, the faint hum of the air conditioning, anything to keep my mind from spiraling. My chest still ached from the gunshot wound, a dull throb that reminded me I was alive, but my legs… they were just there, lifeless under the blanket, a silent accusation of everything I’d lost.Celeste had been my rock through it all. Every day I was in the hospital, she was there, her presence a steady light in the haze of pain and uncertainty. She’d sit by my bed, reading to me, joking about the terrible hospital food,
Ella's POVThe courthouse was nothing fancy, just a squat brick building tucked between a coffee shop and a dry cleaner in the heart of Chicago. Its plain exterior didn’t match the wild, joyful energy thrumming through me as Shawn, Lily, and I hurried up the steps, hand in hand. Shawn’s grin was infectious, his eyes sparkling with that impulsive, mischievous charm that had made me fall for him in the first place. Lily skipped beside us, her sweater bouncing with each step, her excitement bubbling over despite the heaviness of the past day. My heart felt lighter than it had in hours, maybe days, as we stepped inside, the weight of the hospital, Marcus’s injury, and Vanessa’s violence fading just a little in the face of this moment.The clerk at the front desk raised an eyebrow when we explained we wanted to get married right then and there, no appointment, no frills. “You sure?” she asked, her glasses slipping down her nose as she peered at us. “You don’t exactly look like you planne
Ella POVThe hospital room was a quiet contrast to the chaos of the day before, its soft lighting and steady beeps a strange kind of comfort after the whirlwind of fear and violence that had upended our lives. I stood near Marcus’s bed, my arms crossed, trying to hold myself together as Shawn stood beside me, his hand resting lightly on my lower back, a steady anchor in the storm. Lily was sprawled across Marcus, her small body curled against his chest, her arms wrapped around him as he stroked her back gently, his touch careful despite the tubes and bandages snaking across his body. He looked more alive than I’d expected, his face pale but his eyes clear, filled with a mix of relief and guilt that I recognized all too well. Lily’s presence seemed to ground him, her soft breathing a reminder of why he’d thrown himself in front of that bullet, a selfless act that still felt surreal.“I’m really sorry your wedding got canceled like that,” Marcus said, his voice low, rough with emotio
Ella POVThe hospital room was a haze of dim light and antiseptic smells, a sterile cocoon that felt like it was holding its breath, waiting for something to break. I lay in the bed, my chest throbbing with a dull, relentless ache that pulsed with every heartbeat, my head pounding like someone was hammering nails into my skull. But the worst part wasn’t the pain—it was the absence of feeling in my legs. They were there, under the thin hospital blanket, but they might as well have belonged to someone else. I stared at them, willing them to move, to twitch, to give me some sign they were still mine, but they stayed still, mocking me with their silence. The doctor’s words from earlier echoed in my head—significant spinal damage, likely paralysis—and I fought the panic clawing at my throat, trying to focus on the steady beep of the monitors beside me. It was the only thing keeping me from spiraling into the void of what my life might become, a future I wasn’t ready to face.The door swu