Every one who had previously read the story but one said that this vastly improved the story for them. So I achieved my goal.
But of the (new) readers for the story, none of them -- including a writer who has sold a some stories before -- got the ending.
I really love this story. I really don't want to shelve it, but I'm really not certain this story will ever appeal to a large enough audience.
Originally posted at http://jorhett.dreamwidth.org/5298.html. You can comment there using OpenID, or here if you prefer.