“Yes.”
Astor said it with such a simple, quiet certainty, but for me, it shattered everything. My grief, my hope, everything l've been holding on to, all of it crumbled. Shock hit me like a punch to the gut.
Disbelief followed because a part of me thought that it couldn’t be real, that this was some cruel trick of the light or a dream I’d wake from. But underneath the chaos, buried deep inside me happiness. My daughter. My Isabella. Alive.
But that happiness was quickly smothered by a series of questions and even heavier wave of guilt. My head spun. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make sense of the feelings inside me.
“I… I always imagined this moment,” I managed to choke out, my voice raw and unsteady. “Meeting her, holding her for the first time, it was always a beautiful dream
