All Chapters of A Yearning Beyond Years: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Stacey’s POV:I thought it was just another one of Michael’s thoughtful gestures.“Come on, Stacey,” he’d said earlier that day with that easy smile of his. “Let me take you out tonight. Just you and me. You’ve been working too hard. You deserve a little break.”Honestly, he wasn’t wrong. The past few weeks had been a whirlwind; interviews, emails, calls from publishers, the kind of attention I never thought I’d have in this lifetime. My book had exploded into something bigger than I ever imagined, and instead of breathing in the joy, I was suffocating beneath the weight of it. The irony was almost laughable: I had written it to release myself from the past, but the success chained me to it in ways I didn’t expect.So when Michael offered me a night out, I thought nothing of it. Just a friend giving me a breather, a slice of normal. I told Tessa I’d be back before she went to bed, kissed my son’s soft forehead as the nanny arrived, and slipped into a simple black dress. Nothing extrav

Stacey’s POV:I kept telling myself this was the life I wanted.Each morning, I rose to the sound of my children’s laughter spilling down the hallway. Each evening, Michael’s hands brushed against mine in the kitchen as we cooked together. He was steady, dependable, everything I had once begged God for during those nights I cried alone in bed, terrified of the future.Now here he was, and here I was—slipping into the role of bride-to-be.The apartment transformed into a hive of activity. Fabric samples lay draped over the dining table. Guest lists sprawled across notepads with names being ticked off daily. Michael’s mother called nearly every afternoon with another “wonderful idea” for the ceremony. I smiled, nodded, agreed to things I didn’t care about. Flowers. Invitations. Menus.“You’re glowing,” she told me one day when she dropped by. “I always knew Michael would make someone happy like this.”I glanced at the mirror later that night, wiping off my makeup. Glowing. I didn’t see

Stacey’s POV:The day of the signing dawned bright, sunlight spilling across my bedroom like a promise. Tessa burst into my room before I could even sip my tea, hopping onto my bed in a flurry of excitement.“Mommy, today you’re famous!” she announced, throwing her arms around me.I laughed, hugging her tight. “I’m already famous to you.”She shook her head seriously. “No, famous to everybody.”Her confidence steadied me in ways my own couldn’t. Still, nerves gnawed at me as the hours ticked by. The success of the book had been overwhelming, the kind of whirlwind that left me dizzy. But this? Sitting in front of strangers and letting them see me, this felt like exposure all over again but in a good way and this one was with my consent.By afternoon, we arrived at the venue. The building itself was grander than I’d expected, with tall glass doors and a banner draped across the entrance bearing my book’s title: The One I Let Go.Fans were already lined up outside, winding around the blo

Stacey’s POV:The apartment was too quiet.The kids had fallen asleep early, their soft breathing filling the rooms like a lullaby. Micheal and I sat in the living room, a lamp casting warm light across the space. I’d chosen this moment deliberately. No distractions. No excuses. Just us.My heart was hammering against my ribs so hard I was afraid he could hear it. The words I’d rehearsed a hundred times stuck in my throat. But I knew I couldn’t keep running. Not anymore.Micheal was sitting across from me, scrolling absently through his phone, a glass of wine untouched on the table. He looked tired, worn in a way I hadn’t noticed before…maybe from work, maybe from the weight of carrying a future for us that wasn’t really ours.I cleared my throat. “Micheal?”He glanced up, smiling faintly. “Hmm?”My hands twisted in my lap, knuckles pale. “Can we talk? Really talk?”Something in my tone must have tipped him off, because the smile faded. He set his phone aside and leaned forward, elbo

Stacey's POV:The city felt like it had been waiting for me all along.New York…its noise, its restlessness, its unstoppable current swallowed me whole, but instead of drowning me, it taught me how to breathe again. The skyline was no longer just a backdrop; it was the frame of my new life.In the mornings, sunlight streamed through my apartment windows, catching on the spines of books stacked along the walls, my book among them, my story. The bestseller label still startled me every time I saw it. A part of me still whispered that it wasn’t real, that at any moment someone would expose me, laugh at me, remind me that women like me didn’t get happy endings.But then, laughter would break that thought apart… my children’s laughter.Tessa had adjusted faster than I expected. She’d always been an old soul, though I sometimes forgot she was still just a child. New York fascinated her, it was like she knew she was born here, the towering buildings, the museums, the parks. Ethan, on the oth