My ex abandoned me while I was pregnant then waited seven years to meet our sick daughter. I allowed him into her hospital room only if he wore a superhero mask and left before she learned his name. But the moment he reached her bed, she pointed at his costume and screamed that she already knew him.
The first thing Evan said when I told him I was pregnant was nothing.
He sat on the edge of our bathtub for almost 10 minutes, staring at the test in my hand.
Finally, he rubbed his face.
“I can’t do this.”
I told him I was pregnant.
“Can’t do what?”
“Be somebody’s dad.”
We were both 24.
We’d been together 13 months, and I’d believed we were building a future.
“I’m scared too,” I told him.
“Can’t do what?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
He looked at the floor.
“I just know I’ll mess it up.”
I waited for him to say something else.
He didn’t.
“I just know I’ll mess it up.”
***
For two weeks, we argued about money, childcare, and the baby.
One evening, I came home to find his suitcase beside the door.
“You’re really leaving?”
He wouldn’t look at me.
I came home to find his suitcase beside the door.
“I’m not going to be any good at this, Claire.”
“Then learn.”
He picked up the suitcase.
After he left, I stood listening to the refrigerator hum.
I was frightened of becoming a mother too, but I couldn’t walk away from myself.
“I’m not going to be any good at this, Claire.”
***
Sophie arrived in March.
She had dark hair, tiny fists, and a scream that made the delivery nurse laugh.
“Well, she certainly has opinions.”
I sent Evan a photograph.
Sophie arrived in March.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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