Is he not going to want her again?
She couldn't think about it. The more she thought, the less she could bear.
She wanted to be strong, just like when she first met him, just like when they had just parted…
Sophia lay in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, her body too weak to muster any strength. It seemed like there was nothing else she could do but lie there.
She hadn't had lunch, didn't know whether it was morning or evening, and only felt pain throughout her body, struggling even to turn over.
The two children were still at school. In the afternoon, she still had to pick them up from school and make them dinner—Italian pasta—but she found even opening her eyes difficult. She lay in bed, anxiously wanting to cry, sobbing softly, not understanding why her body felt so miserable.
Then, in her haze, she heard someone calling her—a deep, pleasant man's voice, filled with urgency and concern, calling over and over again, soft lips brushing her face and lips.
