Warm Embrace

It was one of those raw, bone-crushing moments, the kind that takes a person down to their absolute lowest — that’s where I was. 

A spewing torrent of vitriol, dripping from my ex-husband’s mouth like acid, tearing through my resolve. 

Every word felt like a jab, a calculated hit designed to shred me from the inside out. 

His voice… a whip, cracking against the air with all the bitterness and fury of a man who thinks he’s invincible.

Then, in a single breath, that heavy silence was shattered. Steve wrapped me in his arms and gently kissed my forehead.

 He didn’t need words. He didn’t need a grand gesture. Just the sheer, solid presence of him was enough to disrupt the entire dynamic of that pathetic power play. 

Suddenly, I didn’t feel like listening anymore.

Looking into his eyes, the world fell away. I could still hear the muffled shouts in my mind, the hateful words barely audible over the fierce thumping of his heartbeat under my cheek. 

But none of it mattered. His chest was a refuge, a sanctuary where all that pain and frustration bled away, leaving nothing but warmth. 

He didn’t just hold me — he claimed me….sounds like a romance novel…right?

I was safe. Safe, in a way I hadn’t felt before, in a way I didn’t think was even possible.

We taaked like we’d been waiting a lifetime to speak. Every word, every shared thought felt like opening a window, letting in fresh air after being locked in a stifling, suffocating room for so long. It was intoxicating, thrilling, more sensual, and fulfilling than anything I’d ever known.

That’s the moment I realized that love isn’t just about sweeping gestures or romantic fairy tales. 

It’s about the way his arms closed around me, as if he was anchoring me in place, keeping me from drifting back into that darkness. It’s about the way he pulled me away, without question, without hesitation, without needing to say a damn word. He didn’t try to *fix* me — he just *held* me, let me fall apart, and then gathered up all those shattered pieces and wrapped them in the security of his embrace.

That night, with my head resting against the rise and fall of his chest, surrounded by the scent of him — slightly of grapes — I realized I had finally stepped out of the shadow of my past. 

Because love, true love, isn’t a fireworks display…that’s lovebombing.

It’s quiet, relentless, and devastatingly powerful. 

It’s the kind of love that stands in the face of all that pain, says “Not today,” and then pulls you away — to someplace where you can heal. Where you can breathe.