“I wanted a baby more than anything,” I said quietly. “When we couldn’t… I thought something in me had failed. Then Evelyn came, and I didn’t care how. I didn’t care where or why… She made me feel whole again, like I was finally enough.”
“I know.”
“But I don’t get to be lied to,” I added. “Not by the man who was supposed to hold that truth with me.”
“I’ll tell Evelyn when she’s ready,” he promised. “But she may never be… ready. We’ll tell her the truth in a way she can understand.”
“I know,” I said honestly. “But whatever happens, you’ll do the right thing. And we’ll go to therapy if we need to. We just need to be prepared that she knows everything she needs. Especially if her… birth mother makes a reappearance.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I nodded, but didn’t smile. I had so much anger in me, but more than that, I had so much love for our little girl. And I wasn’t going to blow up my family for a lie that Norton and his mother had kept for years… that decision was mine and mine alone.
That night, I watched Evelyn sleep — bunny under her chin, frosting still smudged in her hair.
She didn’t know yet, but she would. And when she did, she’d still be mine. Because I didn’t love her out of obligation.
I loved her because she made me a mother — and that’s everything I’d ever wished for.
