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The sound of her words is like a knife being twisted in my chest. It’s closer to a sob than actual words. I close my eyes and nod. I didn’t want her to find out like this.
“It’s her mother. She’s in the hospital. I need to get there,” I reply when I open my eyes.
“They’re here?” she asks with a scowl on her face.
“Yes.” I nod.
“Wait, you brought me here, to another country, where you have a family? Have you lost your fu—”
“Don’t,” I say firmly. “It’s not like that and I don’t have time to explain right now. My little girl is in a foreign country with a woman I don’t know, and her mother was found ill or injured. I don’t have details and I’m not about to stand here and fight with you when I need to find out what’s going on.”
Chloe whips her head back and I feel like shit for talking to her so harshly, but I’m about to lose my mind. So many things could have happened. I need to get to my little girl.
I close my eyes again, my jaw working under my skin. I pinch the bridge of my nose, reining in my control. This is all going to hell in a handbasket.
“Come with me. I’ll explain as much as I can on the ride there.” I open my eyes and see a broken woman standing before me.
She has her arms wrapped around her waist, hugging herself tightly. Her head is bent as she sways from side to side. I open my mouth to soothe this situation as much as I can, but her next words take my knees out from under me.
“Our child would have been six by now… this year. I often wonder if we would’ve had a boy or a girl. You left and I did what I thought was best. I couldn’t force Sid to help me with a baby and Ally was just a freshman in high school. I was already struggling to care for her.
“There isn’t a day I don’t ache for my child. You go take care of your daughter. When you have your situation straight, I’m going to need you to arrange for me to return home. I’ll take my chances with what’s coming for me back there,” she says in the most detached voice I’ve ever heard.
I’m literally on my knees as a roar rips from my chest. “Oh, God. I didn’t know.” I sob like a broken man. I tear at my hair as the weight of her words slams into me. “I never knew. I wouldn’t have left if I knew.”
Now I understand. The time that I had no contact and no way to know what was going on with her. That brief moment when something changed that I didn’t have an eye on.
Now, I can see the reason behind the hatred that has flashed in her eyes. I left when she needed me most. When our child needed me to be there.
How the fuck can I ever fix this?
