84. The Most Cherished of Our Memories
Candace
As I listen to the family's lively chatter during breakfast, I can only sit in silence. The table is full of laughter and banter that intertwine like the threads of a warm blanket wrapping around everyone... everyone except me.
Derian and Susy are sitting next to each other, too close for my comfort. Their gazes are sweet and intimate, filled with a complicity that's painful to witness. Mom and Dylan look satisfied, as if everything in life has finally fallen into place for them. The twins, with their inexhaustible energy, talk among themselves, but occasionally turn to their new brother-in-law, asking him naive questions that he answers kindly with that smile that once —I hate to admit it— was meant for me.
I feel the air grow heavy in my
