My husband sent another woman a huge bouquet of white roses and pink peonies with a card signed “Love, Daniel,” and by one careless mistake, those flowers arrived at our house instead.

I am.” We shared a tired, broken laugh—the first since Thursday. Not reconciliation, only a real human moment in the ruins. For that night, it was enough.

Chapter 5: The rebuilding

Three months later Daniel still wasn’t fully back home. Some people assumed that not divorcing meant I’d forgiven him; others thought counseling was returning us to normal. It wasn’t. Our therapist explained “You cannot rebuild the marriage you had,” followed by “That marriage includes the conditions under which this happened. If you stay together, you have to build something