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.
**
Sean had decided to make a whole night of it. After we left the Chinese restaurant, we went for ice cream, and then for a long drive with the windows down and the warm air in our hair. By the time we pulled into the driveway back home, both Tommy and Sarah were sound asleep.
I went to lift Sarah out of the car, but Sean shook his head. I knew he needed to hold his little girl as much as he could right now. My heart broke into a million pieces as I watched him carry her into the house. Tommy was too big for me to lift on my own, so I stayed out in the car with him and waited for Sean to come back.
After about ten minutes, Sean stepped out the front door looking broken. Tears streamed down his handsome face as he leaned in and picked up his son. I locked the car and followed him inside. Once he’d put Tommy to bed and came back down, I pulled him down on the couch next to me and held him while he wept.
The next morning, Sean came into the kitchen while I was making my breakfast and smiled down at the kids. I knew that he’d barely slept the night before. Between crying and angrily pounding his fist into his pillow, he’d exhausted most of his emotions, but sleep had still eluded him.
“How about we all go to the park after breakfast?” he asked.
“Yeah!” the kids both cheered.
I served breakfast and offered to stay behind and clear the dishes while he took the kids to play. I knew he was planning on telling Sarah about her father that afternoon and thought maybe he would want some time alone with them.
“Absolutely not,” he said as the kids were getting their shoes. “This is a family trip.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
Though my heart swelled at the thought that I was part of this family, I ached with the knowledge that one of us was going to be ripped away. I took a deep breath and slapped my game face on. My family needed me and I wasn’t going to let them down.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - SEAN
Emily and I sat on a bench while Tommy and Sarah played, marveling at how little fighting was going on. I watched my little girl, the one who’d slept on my chest for months after her mother had died, and wondered how in the hell I was ever going to be able to give her up.
Just the thought of Telissa made my blood boil. Not only had she ruined me by telling me about her affair, but she’d invited Glen into our lives. And for what? To assuage her own guilt? Emily gently touched my knee, and I could see the concern etched in her face as she watched me. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself before the kids caught on to my mood.
They played for a long time, just running around and having fun. A few times, Sarah ran up to tell me something she thought was cool. It nearly broke me inside to know that this was probably the last time I would spend these days with her. Last night I had strongly considered taking Glen to court for custody, but decided in the end that I couldn’t put Sarah through that. She would live with him while the trial went on and then what if I won? She’d be shuffled around all over again.
Movement out of the corner of my eye got my attention. I turned my head to see none other than Glen standing at the edge of the playground area. What the fuck? He’d promised me forty-eight hours. I stood up and turned to Emily.
“Keep an eye on the kids, will you?” I asked her. Before she could answer, I stalked over to where the other man stood, my hands balled into fists. I was ready to beat him bloody if he tried to approach Sarah right now.
His eyes never left her as I approached and before I could say a word, he started to speak.
“She looks so much like her mother,” he said softly.
I stood stock still, trying to control my temper. “Look, Glen, you promised me—”
He finally swung his eyes in my direction and held up his hand to interrupt me. “I loved her, you know? And in the beginning, I didn’t even know she was married. I never would have gotten with her had I known. But by the time I found out, I was already in love. When she broke it off, I was devastated and when I got her letter, I thought maybe I could still have a piece of her with me if I had our daughter.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but he shook his head and stopped me again.