The story of a widow who lost the love of her life to a careless driver was published on Valentine's Day, appropriately enough.

She stopped at a roadside marker, far from Charlotte, with fresh flowers that day, pausing to talk about the $7 million jury award in her wrongful death lawsuit, and more important, the loss that still looms over her life.

"No amount of money can ever bring him back," she said. "He was my best friend, and I will always have a hole in my heart."

The Florida woman remembers her husband, who was a Tampa police officer of 20 years when he was killed on his motorcycle by a county employee in a county-owned pick-up truck. The county employee pulled right in front of the off-duty cop riding his brand-new Harley Davidson.

The employee said he never saw the man on the motorcycle.

The widow said she pressed ahead with the lawsuit, though it was emotionally difficult to relive the loss and see the man now held responsible for her husband's death. But she felt she had to do it for her husband and for her three sons.

"I wanted that man to see the pain he caused my family," she said. "He went home that day to his family, and I went home to the quietest house you've ever heard -- except for my tears and my children's tears."

The jury awarded $1 million for the officer's lost income, $1.5 million to the widow, and $1.75 million each to the three sons. The award was then reduced 10 percent because the officer wasn't wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, even though by law, no helmet is required there.

"I would give all the money in the world to have my husband back," the woman said. "That kind of pain never goes away."

Source: tbo.com: "Officer's widow relived nightmare in wrongful death trial," Laura Kinsler, Feb. 14, 2012