They were all there, celebrating Max's birthday and his surprise engagement to Helen - Helen and Max and Madeleine and ... Joe. The face from a past love tore through Helen's protective image as bitterly as Madeleine's vitriolic barbs. At that sudden point of impact, Helen felt no happiness at the prospect of the future she had chosen, but a cold, cold despair at what had been lost, of opportunities wasted, of time irretrievably slipping away...
