Love and Romance Library #176
A poignant tale of love and hardship, "The Love I Wanted Always" follows Pat, a young woman fleeing her foster home in Nebraska, who finds unexpected refuge and romance in New York with a struggling painter named Johnny. Drawn together by shared hardship and quiet moments, their bond deepens—until fame and distance begin to pull them apart. With heartfelt art by Matt Baker, this touching story captures the fragile beauty of connection and the quiet strength found in vulnerability.
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Pat runs away from her foster parents in Nebraska and ends up penniless in New York. A painter offers her a dollar to pose for her, but she is so weak she passes out after posing. He takes her to the boarding house where he lives and they soon fall in love. Although poor, they decide to get married. Pat shows the first painting Johnny did of her to an art critic and Johnny soon becomes successful. But success goes to his head and he leaves Pat and their friends from the boarding house, unaware that Pat is expecting his baby.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).