I convinced myself it was mercy. That holding back pieces of the truth was protection - for her, for us, for what remained of our marriage. Each partial confession felt like carefully removing a splinter, trying to cause the least amount of pain possible. What I didn’t understand was that Nikki wasn’t experiencing relief with each small admission. She was living in a house where the floor kept disappearing beneath her feet. “Is that everything?” she would ask, eyes searching mine for something s