She had once been the most beautiful person in his life, the woman he had proudly brought to charity galas in New York and lavish events across the country, yet the woman he now saw looked completely different, like someone whose life had been crushed by hardship. Her clothes were faded and worn thin, her sandals looked ready to fall apart, her dark hair was tied back loosely, and exhaustion marked every line on her sunburned face.
However there was something else that made Theodore’s heart pound violently in his chest.
Two infants were strapped against her body in simple cloth carriers, one resting against each side of her chest. The babies looked only a few months old and they slept peacefully despite the heat. Both wore small knitted hats and secondhand clothes, yet what shocked Theodore most was something impossible to ignore even from several yards away.
Both babies had pale blond hair.
The same color as his own.
Near Gabrielle’s feet sat a clear plastic bag filled with crushed soda cans and empty bottles she had collected along the roadside.
His former wife was surviving by picking through trash while raising two children he had never known about.