DAY ONE

I am not a man that women look at twice.

Yet she did, the woman I loved. Caitlyn. The name I would give to you in honor of her memory.

She was a dark-haired beauty. She saw beyond my shy conversations and saw something in my eyes perhaps, a loneliness of soul that touched her. At first, our eyes held contact longer than necessary. On my later visits we exchanged smiles, our first tentative conversations. A touch of fingertip to fingertip.

Our love grew until we pledged to seek a life beyond the prison that held her. She was six months pregnant when we escaped, became man and wife, pledging together to be parted by nothing short of death.

Our pledge lasted until the end of her pregnancy, when you were thrust into this world among the echoes of your mother’s death. You did not kill her, Caitlyn. By taking her away from any medical help, I was responsible.

And although I knew then that someday I would have to pay the price for my love for you, it has arrived far, far too soon…