"This is all my fault. I didn't pay enough attention to you and Marilyn. I didn't take care of you the way I should have."
"I promise, Alberta—from now on, I'll take care of you both. I can't lose you again."
Six-year-old Marilyn had fought through her own pain to comfort me.
"Mommy, it doesn't hurt. Don't blame Daddy."
"If giving up one kidney means Mommy and Daddy can be happy, then Marilyn thinks it's worth it."
It was that day that the three of us made a promise.
We would use the one-month divorce cooling-off period as a trial. We would work on our family, give each other one more chance.
Over the past month, Thaddeus had done exactly what he said he would. He put Marilyn and me first in everything, doing his best to be the perfect husband and father.
But the conversation I'd just overheard between Thaddeus and his secretary told me it was all a lie.
I stared at Marilyn, fast asleep in her little bed, and tears rolled down my cheeks in heavy, unrelenting drops.
I was still sitting there in a daze when Thaddeus walked into the room and found me crumpled on the floor.
"What's wrong, Albie? The floor's cold. Why are you sitting down here?"
"Have you been crying? Are you feeling sick?"