Their mutual understanding.
Sophia sometimes found herself grateful for that terrible time—not for the pain or the fear, but for the way it had opened the abscess that had poisoned their marriage from the very beginning.
Eleanor was in prison.
Alex visited her every few months.
Sophia did not protest.
She understood that no matter what her mother-in-law did, she was still his mother.
To completely sever this bond would force her husband to make a decision and she did not want to repeat Eleanor’s mistakes.
“How is he feeling?” Sophia asked after each visit.
“She has aged a lot.”
“And what does she say then?”
Alex shook his head.
“Always the same. That I betrayed her. That I chose you. That she would never forgive me.”
“Does it hurt to hear it like that?”
“I used to. Now I just feel sorry for her. She still doesn’t understand what she did. She still sees herself as a victim.”
Sophia hugged her husband and he buried his face in her hair.
These intimate moments were special to them – not passionate, but deep.
Two people who went through hell and found each other again.
Work at the pharmacy continued.
Her colleagues who heard her story on the news—Eleanor’s case had received significant media attention—viewed her with new respect.
Sophia didn’t like these looks, but she endured them.
“You are a true hero,” the young intern told her.
“I’m not a hero. I’m just a survivor.”
“But you discovered the crime yourself, without police intervention.”
“I wasn’t alone. My friends and acquaintances helped me. I couldn’t have done it alone.”
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