I exhaled, rubbing the back of my neck. “You don’t need to apologize.
She did this to herself.”
Sarah nodded.
“Yeah. I just wanted to… you know. Explain.”
I didn’t say anything.
A month later, Karen was gone.
Her once-pristine house looked like it had aged decades.
The day the moving truck pulled away, the boys cheered when I told them they could play as loudly as they wanted.
That evening, something happened that hadn’t in over a year.
Emily, frail but determined, stepped outside for the first time in months.
She settled into a chair on the front porch, smiling as the boys excitedly showed her their best sports tricks.
She looked at me, her eyes twinkling. “So, you finally fought back.”
I grinned.
“I had to.”
She squeezed my hand. “Thank you.”
I kissed her forehead, feeling a deep sense of relief.
Karen was gone.
And for the first time in months, our home finally felt like ours again.
