She'd been eaten up with guilt all her life

afraid to face the truth, and now, in some strange way, by recalling what had happened in her family she felt almost liberated. It was as if a great weight had suddenly been lifted off her shoulders and now she was free—except for the door that had closed against her heart where Max was concerned. Bile rose in her throat thinking of him and once started she couldn't stop crying as she suffered through the slow, agonizing death of her soul.