wear the moon like a halo

Maeve

There's no happy endings. It hurts to hear him say. What is life without hope for a happy ending? What's the point of anything if you're going to end up miserable and alone? Maeve sighs heavily, letting his words wash over her like freezing ocean waves that steal the breath from your lungs. She slowly ties off the sandbag, letting them sit in that crushing silence before she carefully stands, wiping off her hands on her pants. Maeve takes a measured step towards him, licking her lips as she reaches up to touch his arm. It's light and barely there. Meant to be reassuring. "What you do is try. I get that it isn't the best answer or the most helpful. I also understand that it doesn't seem fucking possible."

Her voice is soft between them, a seriousness in her tone that's never been there before. "But Jata... You have a child on the way. A baby who is going to need their father. You have to try for them. You have to be better for them. You can't curl up and disappear. You already know that. Everything with Nate and your wife... I don't have answers for that." She doesn't have answers because she hasn't been through any of it, but she did know life without parents who cared. His child doesn't deserve the same fate.

"I can sit here and say that Nate will come around. That your wife will forgive you. I can feed you sugar sweet lies and reassurances, but I'm not going to. If Nate truly wants children with you... If you love him as much as you say you do... Then I have hope that it will work out. I don't live in a world with happy endings either, Jata. Not ones that last longer than a minute." Her lips twist into a sad smile as she shakes her head, looking out at the horizon before back at him, "But we have to hold on to something. To some kind of hope because anything else would ruin us."

These violent delights
Have violent ends