The Harley's Cost: A Life Forfeited

he wedding photos sat

me hard. I'd had to quit

posedly "stabilizing," b

torm hit o

is voice weak

ital... can't

to County

oman with kind eyes, sat us d

st lung. Common in long-haul truckers from

eeds a lung trans

in the air, hea

I whispered.

ure, Ms. Jenkins. And the

ned made my head spin.

call wa

silence on the oth

hear me? Dad

nally said, his voice

ny... you said it was d

ifty thousand? It just plugged a hole. We're barely so

? After Dad s

I stammered. "You said

"But this? Your dad suddenly needing a fortune? It so

t believe what I was hea

er insurance or savings. This feels like a setup. First the we

tartup money? That wa

whole situation... a baby, a sick father... it's a lot.

sound of prof

e this isn't the right time for a baby. With all this stress, your h

re you

. For the baby's sake. So it doesn't ha

t would be "our secret," how we coul

ound logical

ion for my father, my love for o

painting a picture of a life unburdened, a fut

ter, I was

on

e was quick,

ide me was a vast

it was for

us up to focus on what

air in a hospital bed, a

ike's