I reached out instinctively to stop him, but his shoulder slammed into me and sent me sprawling to the ground. He looked down at me, his expression dark as a storm.
"You knew Grace was pregnant, and you still said those things to provoke her!"
"If anything happens to her or the baby, I will never forgive you."
I lay on the wet ground. A shard of broken glass on the pavement had driven itself into my arm, and blood soaked through my sleeve in seconds.
I watched his retreating back, that unwavering, merciless back, and it felt like a fist had closed around my heart and was crushing it to pulp.
But Julian... I gave you a daughter too.
I drifted into a strange, fractured dream.
The sky blazed with fireworks, brilliant and blinding, and Julian knelt before me on one knee, a simple ring cradled in his palms, his eyes full of reverence.
"Gertie, the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was meeting you. Falling in love with you."
"Will you marry me?"
The scene shattered. In its place was Julian holding Grace, walking away without a backward glance, and the image seared into my eyes like staring into the sun.
I sobbed, crying out through the haze.
"Julian, don't leave me..."