Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

Chapter 91 ~ Are you proud?

ATHEN

"Hi mum, Dad."

The words leave my mouth barely above a whisper as I crouch beside the two headstones, brushing away the dried leaves clinging to their bases.

I was given a leave day so I could visit my parents' grave. for their memorial I came here every year and sadly this is the first time I've visited with good news.

Tears blur my vision as I trace my fingers over the engraved names

Elena and Marcus Dawson

My parents.

My everything.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, my voice cracking like brittle glass. "I should've come sooner."

The guilt coils tighter in my chest, like a vice. Last year, I couldn't bring myself to step foot here.

I was drowning in pain, in fear, in the crushing weight of being told I had killed my

own son.

to me, but how can I

to sleep, I could hear Dad's voice in my head, stern but kind, telling me to stand tall. I could see

But they aren't here.

I'm so alone.

they're responding. My arms wrap around myself as I kneel there, broken and small

strand of hair behind my ear. "It was a tough one. Thoracic. Complicated. But I...

bite my lip, shaking my head with a soft laugh. "You'd be proud," I add, staring at the names carved in stone. "I know you would." "I just wish you were here to hug me." I choke. "I wish I could come home and tell you everything. I wish I wasn't always walking around pretending

cheek, then another. I don't bother wiping them away. They fall

you. God, I miss

a second, almost believe it's my mum's hand on my shoulder. Or Dad standing beside me, arms crossed, beaming with that quiet pride he always had whenever I won

freak out every time I so much as grazed my knee," I say, my voice trembling. "And now... now I hold hearts in my hands, and stitch

laugh escapes me, watery and broken. My knees

folding my legs under me. My fingers trace the letters of their

"I miss you."

hum when he cooked. The way Mum always knew when I was lying... even when I

over,

to my mouth to muffle the sob, curling into myself slightly. "Sometimes, I do all these incredible things, and I look around, waiting for someone

you see me. Wherever you are. I hope you see

a moment, letting the

to worry about me.