Six weeks after Mason deserted me and our new child in a freezing whiteout, telling me I’d survive, I stood in the back of his glittering wedding ceremony. My child was sleeping towards my chest, and a sealed envelope burned in my hand. The second he noticed me, his smile cracked—and because the music stopped, I whispered that I used to be right here to take again every little thing he stole.

Half 1: The Mountain Ridge A full month and a half after Mason stranded me and our new…