After my husband’s funeral, I went to my sister’s son’s first birthday party, and she announced, ‘My son is your husband’s child. So as inheritance, I’ll take half of your $800K house.’ She even showed me his will. I said, ‘Oh, I see,’ and tried to hold back..

Adam and I met twelve years ago at a charity auction benefiting children with cancer. I was volunteering, helping organize the silent auction items, when he outbid everyone else for a watercolor of the Boston skyline at sunset—vibrant oranges and purples bleeding into the harbor. After winning, he walked straight over to me and handed it over.

“I noticed you looking at this all night,” he said with a smile that made his blue eyes crinkle at the corners. “I think it belongs with you.”