“Then, I called him on the number in the letter.”
“Do you want to keep talking to him?” I asked after a long beat.
“I do. I want to know why he did it. I want to hear it from him,” Susie nodded.
Two days later, I called Charles myself. He answered immediately.
“We need to meet,” I said, my voice low and cold.
We chose a neutral coffee shop.
He was already there when I arrived.
Older. Gaunt. His face carved with lines of exhaustion.
He looked human. Ordinary.
And I hated that.
“You didn’t just disappear from me,”
“You disappeared from her. For 18 years.”
“I know,” he flinched.
“You could’ve come back at any time,” I pressed, my anger sharp now. “She wasn’t a baby forever.”
“I thought about it every year,” he admitted quietly. “But I always convinced myself you’d both be better off.”
“Mom and I haven’t spoken in years,” he added softly. “What she did… I don’t know if I can ever forgive her either.”
“You can’t forgive her? Your mother? Like she was the only one with a part to play here… You chose this, Charles.”
“I did, Allie,” he said.
“But a week after that fake funeral, I wanted to come back. I wanted to explain everything. But my mother wanted to save herself. She had pulled too many strings at the Mayor’s office… if they found out the truth, she would have been out. ”
“And you chose her,” I said simply.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“I’m here to make amends, Allie,” he said, tears in his eyes. “I’ve missed you. Us. Her… I’ve missed your love.”
Times passed.
Charles paid every single month. Without fail and without any excuses.
Susie started calling him more often.
They talked. About small things at first. School. Music. Books.
Susie asked him the hard questions. She didn’t shy away at all.
“Why did you leave?”
“Did you love Mom?”
“Did you think about us?”
I never asked what he said in response.
I was freer than I had been in years. But now, I understand something important.
