Alarms went off in my thoughts, and my heart fell. I turned red when he reached out to give her a little brushback.
With a shout of “Don’t touch her!” I ran out of the car. The man retreated, and my breath caught as I approached.
When I told her father I was pregnant, he—my ex-boyfriend—vanished.
I was hugged by my kid while he muttered something about wanting to “make things right.” After he left us, I informed him angrily that he had no role in her life, and we departed.
I felt something break inside of me when I watched his hand reach out to sweep her hair back. My heart thumped, and I leaped out of the car due to a protective impulse.
“Avoid touching her!” My voice sliced like a razor across the air as I yelled.
The man was shocked by my quick scream and stepped back right away. With confused, wide eyes, my daughter turned to face me. As I approached, my breath stuck in my throat.
He did it.
The man who disappeared as soon as I made him aware of my pregnancy. Before vanishing into thin air, the guy had once uttered promises of eternity. my former partner. her dad.
Anger, shock, a pain I believed I had long since buried, a whirlwind of emotions swept over me. Despite his age and change in appearance, his eyes remained the same. The same ones who, before completely shattering me, had encouraged me to believe in love.
Fumbling for words, he opened his mouth. His voice trailed off, “I—I just wanted to see her.” “To put things right.”
I thought about laughing. Make things right? After quiet for years? After missing her first word, her first walk, her first day of school, and all the others? after abandoning me to fight by myself as he vanished into whatever life he had decided to lead rather than ours?
With tiny fingers gripping into my jacket, my daughter clung to me, perhaps sensing the tempest brewing inside of me.
I growled, “You have no right to appear now and behave like a father.” “You went out.” You took a decision.
I was unconcerned when his face slumped. It didn’t matter what sorrow or shame he was carrying around just now. He was no longer among us. I was on my own to pick up the pieces after he went.
With my back to him, I gathered my daughter in my arms. When it seemed impossible, she was my motivation to keep going and my entire universe. Furthermore, I wasn’t going to allow him to waltz in and undermine that basis.
As he had left us all those years ago, I left him behind and walked away without saying another word.
