Chapter 1

I stood in the morgue, staring at Ruby, who would never open her eyes again. The weight of it crushed my chest until I could barely breathe.

She had been so sweet, so full of life. And all I could do was watch her slip away, powerless to save her.

The tears came hard and fast, each sob sharp and ragged.

A month ago, Ruby was diagnosed with leukemia. My world collapsed in an instant.

I had every member of our family tested for a match. Every day waiting for those results was its own kind of hell.

The preliminary results came back, and only Dan Pratt was a full match.

But the moment he got the news, he packed his bags and started making plans to leave the country.

I tried to stop him. I begged him to stay. But while I was busy tending to Ruby at the hospital, he slipped away.

Right before his flight took off, he called me.

"Lynn, listen—this deal is huge. If I close it, we'll never have to worry about money again. Ruby will have access to the best care in the world. I'm doing this for us."

The day after he landed overseas, the final match results came in.

I called him like a madwoman, over and over, begging him to come back and save our daughter.

He sighed like I was being unreasonable. He said he was swamped with work. He wouldn't budge.

For the next twenty-eight days, I begged him every single day.

He deflected. He made excuses. He turned me down, coldly, every time.

Then, on day thirty, Ruby took a sudden turn for the worse.

I searched every bone marrow registry in the country. Nothing. No match.

Ruby was in agony, but she never cried or complained. She just lay there, pale and weak, holding my hand with whatever strength she had left.

"Mommy," she muttered, "is Daddy mad at me? Is that why he won't come home?

"I'll be so good from now on. I promise I won't make him upset again.

"It hurts so much, Mommy… I really miss Daddy."

I held her and sobbed, my heart shredded beyond repair.

Even her lead doctor couldn't stand to watch anymore. He called Dan himself and told him, in no uncertain terms, that Ruby was critical—that there was no more time to waste.

That finally got through to him.

Dan realized—too late—how serious things really were. He finally agreed to come back and donate the marrow.

I thought maybe, just maybe, there was still hope.

But then, over the phone, I heard a voice in the background—sweet and familiar, "Papa Dan."

It was Valerie Kinder's son, Theo.

Theo told Dan he'd already helped him check off twenty-nine items on his bucket list. Only one was left—seeing the Northern Lights.

"Papa Dan," Theo chirped, "this is my very last wish. Will you come with me?"

Dan's heart melted on the spot. He said yes without a second thought. Then he turned back to me and said, "Lynn, don't overreact. I already checked—it's just one day. It won't affect the surgery.

"Theo never had a father figure in his life. I can't break his heart.

"You're an adult, babe. You're not going to hold that against a little kid, are you?"

I was shaking with rage.

He felt sorry for Theo because he didn't have a dad.

But what about Ruby? His own daughter, lying in a hospital bed, in agony, dying?

I opened my mouth to fire back, but he'd already hung up. And then, his phone went straight to voicemail.

I slid down the wall outside Ruby's room and wept until I had nothing left.

Ever since Valerie moved back to the country with her son, Dan had poured all his warmth, all his patience, into them.

On Ruby's birthday, Theo called, and Dan walked out.

On our wedding anniversary, he heard Valerie had a fever, and he left me to sit by her bedside all night.

I couldn't take it anymore. We'd fought about their inappropriate closeness more times than I could count. But Dan always twisted it around on me.

"Lynn, it's not what you think.

"Valerie's a single mom. She's struggling. I'm just looking out for her—we grew up together.

"You're both women. Why do you always have to make her life harder?"

He spent all our hope and trust like pocket change, leaving us waiting, over and over, for someone who never showed up.

He'd travel across the world for someone else's child, but he wouldn't spare some time to save his own daughter.

Somewhere in all that, every last shred of love I'd held onto shattered.

I made a silent promise to myself then: once he came back and donated the marrow, I was filing for divorce.

But I never got that chance.

Ruby didn't make it.