The Weight of a Mother’s Secret

A Mother’s Utter Sacrifice

I opened the leather journal. Her familiar perfume hit me, once irritating, now unbearably poignant. The bookmarked page read:

“If you are reading this, I was too much of a coward to say goodbye.”

She explained that during her third trimester, she had refused aggressive treatment to ensure Liam would be born healthy. She sacrificed her own chance of survival for her son.

The next entry detailed her abrupt disappearance:

“My hands are going numb, and I’m forgetting things. Yesterday, I almost dropped the kettle. I can’t risk dropping Liam. I can’t risk having a seizure while holding him. I need to go somewhere I won’t hurt him, but I can’t let Mark watch me deteriorate. He needs to bond with the baby, not nurse a dying wife.”

I realized the truth: I had been judging her as selfish, when she had been protecting her family from unimaginable pain.

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