Arrow Lake Goodbye is the hardest part

His surrender to her harsh assessment only made her feel worse, which only made her even angrier. She didn't want to hear that he loved her; she wanted an explanation and a promise to be there to help raise her children--his niece and nephews. But all she got were empty words, empty to her anyway, because there were no actions to back them up. If he loved her, then why was he leaving?

He turned away from her, and the part of her that loved him because he was Sia, the big brother she had always looked up to, wanted to call out for him to stop and come back so that they could work this out, but she refrained. How could they work this out? He seemed pretty set on leaving, so set that he hadn't even come to her for help or advice in whatever was causing him to feel like he needed to go. And she harbored far too much anger for this to be settled with just one conversation. No, he would need to be present in her life in order for her to move past this, and it was clear that wasn't an option for him. 

So she didn't stop him; she watched him leave yet again, knowing the sight of his disappearing form would be etched into her memory forever. Her legs felt weak, and she dropped into a sitting position, unable to tear her eyes away from the spot where her brother's large, white form had once been. How could things have ended this way?