“Sweetie, no — that’s not fair. Your daddy didn’t let your mommy leave. That was a terrible accident that no one could prevent.”
But the damage was done. Liam stood rigid, his expression locked in a mask of pain. He took one halting step forward, as if to go to his daughter, then stopped himself.
“I think,” he said carefully, each word measured, “that Beth should take you girls upstairs while Sunny… gets ready.”
As if summoned by her name, Beth appeared in the doorway behind him. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene, understanding immediately what was unfolding. The older woman’s gaze met Sunny’s, conveying both sympathy and disappointment.
“Come on, girls,” Beth said gently. “Let’s go upstairs for a bit.”
“No!” Hailey wailed, her arms tightening around Sunny’s legs with surprising strength. “I’m not letting go! If I don’t let go, she can’t leave!”
Sunny’s heart splintered further, if that were possible. She stroked Hailey’s tangled curls, struggling to maintain some semblance of composure.
“Hailey, sweetheart, please,” she whispered. “This is already so hard.”
But the little girl only clung tighter, her face pressed against Sunny’s jeans, small body shaking with the force of her sobs.
Beth approached cautiously, her weathered hands gentle as she knelt beside them. “Come, my love,” she coaxed. “Let’s go pick out a special drawing for Sunny to take with her.”
“I don’t want to give her a drawing!” Hailey cried. “I want her to STAY!”
With painful gentleness, Beth began to disentangle Hailey’s desperate grip from Sunny’s legs, murmuring soothing words the entire time. Hailey fought, kicking and screaming, but Beth was firm.
“I know, darling,” the older woman soothed. “I know, sweetie. I know it hurts.”
Maddie watched the scene with dry eyes, her earlier tears replaced by a stoic mask that broke Sunny’s heart in entirely new ways. Without a word, she placed the bracelet and photo on the table and turned away.
“Maddie,” Sunny called, her voice breaking. “Please, honey.”
But Maddie kept walking, her small shoulders rigid with hurt, refusing to look back.
Beth finally managed to lift a still-sobbing Hailey into her arms, the child reaching desperately toward Sunny even as she was carried away.
“Sunny!” Hailey’s cries echoed down the hallway, growing fainter as Beth carried her upstairs. “Sunny, please! I’ll be good, I promise! Please don’t go! I’ll be good.”
And then they were gone, leaving Sunny and Liam alone in the ruins of the family breakfast, the pancakes cold and forgotten on their plates.
The silence between them was deafening. Sunny wrapped her arms around herself.
“We’re doing what we have to do,” said Liam, finally. “To protect the girls. To give them stability, security.”
“By taking away someone they love?” replied Sunny. “By teaching them that relationships are disposable when they become inconvenient?”
“That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair,” Sunny shot back, tears streaming freely now. “Not to them, not to you… not to me.”
Something softened in Liam’s expression, a crack in his carefully maintained façade. “Sunny—”
“No,” she cut him off, suddenly unable to bear his sympathy. It would be easier if he remained cold, distant. “You’ve made your position clear. And you’re right — you need to think about what’s best for your daughters. Always.”
She moved mechanically around the kitchen, gathering her purse, checking for her keys. Anything to occupy her hands, to maintain some illusion of control as her world collapsed around her.
“I’ve already packed most of my things,” she said, her voice hollow. “The rest can waituntil… until the girls are at school some time.”
Liam nodded, a short, jerky movement. “I’ll help you take your bag to the car.”
The suggestion was absurd in its normalcy, as if this were any ordinary departure. But Sunny nodded, unable to form words around the lump in her throat.
