Jasper spent years grieving a woman who disappeared without a trace. But one ordinary stop at a gas station 1,300 miles from home led him to a stranger who looked too familiar, ran too fast, and carried the first real clue to a life Jasper never knew he had lost.
Seventeen years ago, I married the woman I believed I would spend the rest of my life with.
Her name was Nina, and back then, saying her name felt like holding sunlight in my mouth. I was 23, young enough to believe love could beat anything, but old enough to know I had found something rare.
Nina was 22, with dark hair she always tucked behind one ear when she was nervous, and a laugh that made people turn their heads without meaning to.
Our wedding was perfect.
Not expensive, not fancy in the way rich people mean it, but perfect in the way that mattered. The church smelled like lilies and old wood.
