I never expected the quiet life I’d built in rural Kentucky—fragile as it was—to shatter the way it did. One moment, I was planning a future with my fiancé and our daughter. The next, he was gone. Lily was only four when he decided fatherhood wasn’t the life he wanted, choosing instead the glittering promises of the city.There was no warning. No conversation. Just absence.
From that point on, everything became about survival. I worked two jobs, stretched every dollar, and tucked Lily into bed each night with the kind of love I hoped would soften the blows life had already delivered too early. She grew into this bright, observant, steady little soul—my mirror, my anchor, my entire world.
