I have never been awed by any story here on Medium as I have been by yours, Marcia. For two reasons. The first, and more prosaic (not at all in a negative way) is your writing. You've got a gift, and I'm sure you know it. But the second , and most important one, is your force of character that shines through the first. It is probably a generational thing, but I have been brought up on a literary diet of heroes, of white knights, of protectors of the women we love, not of the P.Diddy-type of gangsta rappers and their ilk. I imagine that you entered adulthood with similar expectations or ideations from the other side of the gender aisle. A man like your ex is, in my eyes, a disgrace of the gender I'm actually proud of being part of (even though that might make me sound anachronistic in today's world). You don't do this to the woman you love. The character that shines through your story and its prequel is what eternally attracts me to your gender: the grace in the face of adversity (adversity brought upon by some of the shitheads of my gender).