[ dead, yes, and long enough that it no longer pulls in her heart like it did once. That deep emptiness that was both his loss, the loss of their child, and the vulnerability that had left her in. ]

I did, in many different ways, but I did. He was far older than I when we married, strangers in all ways as is proper. But we grew in turn to each other. Perhaps it is not so great a story as others, but we were good to each other.

[it is not empassioned, not life changing like that. But sure and steady and counted in as many days. It was a surety, of being at each others side. Not grand, but enough for her to know it. ]