If He Had Been with Me

by Laura Nowlin

My love for Finny is buried like a stillborn child; it is just as cherished and just as real, but nothing will ever come of it. I imagine it wrapped up in lace, tucked away in a quiet corner of my heart. It will stay there for the rest of my life, and when I die, it will die with me.

I used to say to myself that I just have to get through winter, that I just have to wait. That things would get better then.