“I’m going to get my daughter six birthdays worth of gifts. Then I’m coming back with movers to get my family.”
“Wait a minute! What do you mean movers?”
“You and my daughter are coming to live with me. I can’t have you two all the way over here.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, chuckling softly because he had to be kidding.
“You heard what I said, Faith. This isn’t a debate.”
“That’s out of the question.”
“My daughter is six years old, Faith. Six!” he yelled.
“Don’t you think I know that. I gave birth to her.”
“That means I’ve missed six years of her life. I’m not missing another minute. This isn’t a good time to argue. I’m already trying not to lose my shit right now.”
“We can’t just uproot her like that, Reed. She doesn’t even know you exist.”
That made him stop dead in his tracks. “What have you told her about me?”
“That you were a really good guy that moved away. Thankfully, she hasn’t asked too many questions, so far.”
“I’ll call you when I’m on my way back here.”
“Reed, you don’t even know her.”
“That’s all the more reason for her to be near me.”
“You can’t just bulldoze your way into our lives!”
His facial expression was even after he took long strides to stand in front of me. He cupped my face in his hands, and if it were anyone else, I might have been afraid. Scratch that. I was nervous until I saw the look in his eyes. The sincerity in his eyes was always comforting. Why the hell did it work now, when I no longer trusted him?
“She’s my daughter, and you’re my wife. I don’t have to bulldoze my way anywhere, but Idoneed you to stop fighting me.”
“You sound crazy right now!”
“And you hid my daughter from me for six fucking years. I’m trying not to start unpacking that right now, or I would really be sounding crazier than I already do.”
His words made me swallow my response. He was right, but what could I do now? I wasn’t moving Jada in with some strange man, even if hewasher father. Guilt consumed me as hot tears rushed down my cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to . . . I’m so sorry,”I expressed.
Reed threw his arms around me and pulled my head against his chest as I cried my eyes out. It had been years since I let myself feel like anything other than a good mother for protecting my daughter from the unknown of Reed and his wife and family.
His mother was so disgusting that I could only imagine how the rest of them would respond to an outside baby. I refused to let my daughter feel unwanted like I did the handful of times I spent with my dad and his wife and kids. I couldn’t stomach my daughter feeling anything but love and adoration from the people who should’ve loved her.
“I’m not trying to hurt you, but I’m not walking away from my daughter, so you can get that out of your head.”
“We need a DNA test. I don’t want any questions later on.”
“I know she’s mine. She has my whole damn face. Plus, back then, I was the only one who had ever touched you. I know damn well you weren’t fucking around on me, or I’m going back in time and wringing your fucking neck.”
“See, I can’t with you,” I said, pushing out of his hold.
“I’m playing with you, unless you have something you need to tell me.”
“I don’t. I swear. I just need a little time to talk to Jada.”
