He came through the bedroom window like a knight in shining armor coming to save his princess. He was cast in a shadow, but it didn't matter. I could calculate his every feature in minute detail. The curve of his jaw, his huge, calloused hands, and the way his smile made me go weak at the knees. We lay in bed together and he wrapped me in his protective arms as though he could shield me from all the pain I was feeling. As we lay there I remembered the time my little brother got in that car accident and James healed my pain, much the same way I needed him to heal it now. But this time it was bigger. Bigger than anything I'd ever dealt with before. This time my dad was gone. He'd taken his life, and I didn't think even James could ease that pain.
No one saw it coming. I had walked into my parents' closet and found him hanging from the ceiling with the very tie my brother and I had gotten him for his birthday merely three years ago. I realized that my life would never be the same again.
As I lay on James' chest, I started crying for the first time since that day. I had stayed strong for my mom and my little brother, but finally I could just let it go and let the grief pour out of me because I knew with James I could always let my guard down. When I finally fell silent, having cried myself dry, James cradled my face in his hands and told me that everything would be okay and I knew, despite all that had happened in the past week, that it was the truth.