“For weeks, Joel, I had to deal with the embarressment and the pain of what had been done to me. It was like I felt dirty all the time.” I felt the tears welling up, “I could never laugh, never smile…until I found out that I was pregnant…the father being the man that hurt me. And to make things even crazier, I didn’t get an abortion. I kept the baby and named him Liam.” I smiled when I thought of all my beginning mess-ups as a mom.

Joel shook his head. My tears became angry at his body language, “What?” I hissed. I have told him this and now he was shaking his head. His eyes grew wide at my emotion change, “Oh I didn’t mean that. It is just amazing how emotionally strong you are. You’ve managed all of that and you can still put a smile on your face.”

It was my turn to be caught by surprise. I stared into his dark blue eyes, the ring of gold almost glowing in the semi-dark room.

Then I noticed how close our faces were, I could feel his breath on my face. We leaned in closer and…