Twenty Years Ago, I Played Santa for a Little Girl – This Christmas, She Came Back for Me

The doctors had told me the damage was too severe.

That I wouldn’t be able to carry another pregnancy. That my body had betrayed me in ways I couldn’t fix.

My husband filed for divorce three days later. Said he wanted children.

Real children.

And then, just like that, he was gone too.

No one came for Christmas that year.

I stopped answering texts. I forced down toast on some days, so I had energy to cry. I’d turn the water on in the shower so the neighbors wouldn’t hear me sob.

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