was. Yet with me, he was gentle.
“I don’t expect you to love me, Clara,” he said quietly. “What started as a forced marriage for your mother’s sake… I understand if you want to walk away.”
I turned to him, smiling through happy tears.
“You stood in filth for me. You let the world laugh at you just to protect me and save my mother. You gave me back my dignity when the whole world tried to strip it away.”
I took his hand—the same hand that had once been
