The room seemed to shrink around us. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. My mind was a storm of questions, confusion, and a flicker of something I hadn’t felt in a long time — hope.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It was all I could manage to say, my voice barely above a whisper. The weight of her revelation was a tidal wave, pulling me under.
Claire looked down at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap. “I didn’t know how. I didn’t even know until after…” She trailed off, her voice cracking under the weight of unspoken words.