My Son Invited Me to His Engagement Party — Then Introduced Me to the Woman Who Ruined My Marriage

Her wide eyes.

My hand slips from David’s arm.

The music gets weird and distant. The lights feel too bright. My knees go soft.

I can’t answer.

My chest is tight. I grab onto him harder than I mean to.

Voices blur. Someone asks if I need water.

Someone turns the music down. There’s that hush that falls over a room when everyone realizes something is wrong.

“Sit down,” David says, guiding me to the couch. “Mom, look at me.

Breathe.”

I sit. The spinning eases, but the face in front of me doesn’t change.

Alice hovers a few feet away, concerned, hands clasped.

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