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I’d woken Emily when I came back to the house and told her what had happened. She sat on the couch looking as stricken as I felt. “I don’t get it,” she said. “Why is he coming forward now?”
“Actually, he emailed me months ago. It’s the reason I brought the kids here, to keep him away. I can’t believe this is happening. She’s my daughter, Emily, mine,” I said vehemently. “I’m the one that was there when she was born, I’m the one who took care of her from day one, I’m her father.”
Emily stood and came over to where I was standing. She put her hands on my chest and forced me to look in her eyes. “I know that. Anyone who’s ever seen you with her knows that. So, what can we do? Stop thinking like a dad for just a second and start thinking like a lawyer.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Emily was right, I had to think about this strategically. Even though I was the one who had loved and raised Sarah from birth, her biological father would have rights. I needed to figure out exactly what to do.
“I think you should sit down with the guy and explain to him that uprooting her from the only family she’s ever known isn’t in her best interests,” Emily said.
I nodded, my hands balling into fists. This was why I had left San Diego. Exactly this. I didn’t want this guy showing up five years in and trying to be “Daddy” to my little girl. Biology or no.
“If you want,
I can go with you,” Emily offered.
I shook my head. “No, I need to do this alone.”
I pulled out my phone and punched in the number from the card the guy had thrown at me as I chased him off my porch.
“Yeah, Glen? Sean Evans. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER THIRTY – EMILY
I tried to keep the kids busy as best I could, but my thoughts were with Sean. He was meeting Glen Wilson, Sarah’s biological father, at the diner in town. Sean had wanted to talk to him in private, but after he had threatened Glen when he’d come to the house, Glen had requested a public meeting place.
I sent the kids to their rooms to do some reading while I cleared the breakfast dishes and pulled out some meat to thaw for dinner. Just as I was drying my hands, Sean walked through the door. The look on his face told me that the meeting hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped.
I rushed over to him and pulled him into the kitchen where we could talk quietly without the children hearing. “So?” I asked.
He sighed heavily and shook his head. “It didn’t matter what I said, he wants to know his daughter.”
I hung my head and took a deep breath. I was both understanding and angry. I got that he wanted to meet and know his child, but I couldn’t help but feel it was incredibly selfish of him to try and take her from the only father she’d ever known.
“I’m sorry, Sean,” I said, placing my hand on his chest. “What’s going to happen now?”
Sean shrugged, looking utterly defeated. “I asked him if he could wait until Sarah was older and she could make the decision herself if she wanted to meet him. I told him that she was finally healing from the loss of her mother and really settling in here. I told him she was happy. He said he understood, but that he’d lost so much time with her already and he didn’t want to wait anymore.”
I shook my head, my frustration building. “Can’t you file an injunction against him or something? I mean, you are the one who’s been raising her!”
Sean paced back and forth. “It doesn’t matter. He’s the biological parent and he wants her.”
I felt the tears stinging the backs of my eyes and I couldn’t stop them from falling. “Oh God, what are we going to do?”
“I asked him to give me forty-eight hours to prepare her,” he said sadly.
“Dad?” came Tommy’s voice from behind Sean.
He tried to pull himself together as best he could and turned to greet his son as I quickly swiped the tears off my cheeks.
“What’s up?” Sean asked.
“We’re hungry, can we have chinese for dinner?” Tommy asked, his eyes moving from his father to me and back.
“Sure thing, bud,” Sean said, ruffling his hair. “How about you go get your sister and we’ll go into town?”
Tommy dashed off up the stairs to fetch Sarah and my emotions threatened to overtake me again. I didn’t know how I was going to get through dinner.
**
