Chapter 2

I demanded, "Zack, Rona is my daughter, and mine alone. You haven't been there for her, not even for a single moment. Who are you to lay a hand on her?

"They're the ones who are actually your wife and daughter. If you want to play the strict parent, go do it with them. Stop confusing us."

Yvette's eyes brimmed with tears as she bit her lip, looking genuinely hurt and aggrieved.

She said, "Hannah, I know you still blame Zack for not taking you with us back then, but he was already struggling just to keep us afloat. How could he possibly have had the strength to take care of you, too?

"You've been with him for so long. Have you really never tried to see things from his side?"

Holding back her tears, Yvette gently dabbed at the blood on Zack's lip with a tissue.

But Zack, scowling, suddenly shoved her hand away. He picked Rona up and carried her straight to the car.

I ran after them, but Zack grabbed me and pushed me into the car, too.

Before the car pulled away, Yvette and Ivy stood outside, looking so pitiful and heartbroken, both of them sobbing.

It drew the attention of quite a few passersby, who stopped to watch.

"Zack, are you really going to abandon us?" Yvette cried out, her voice trembling.

"Daddy, it's me, Ivy. Don't abandon Mommy and me," Ivy sobbed, her voice breaking.

Zack finally let them get in the car. Yvette settled in beside me with Ivy in her arms.

Ivy kept shooting dirty looks at Rona and complained in a low voice, "Mommy, she got my dress all dirty by stepping on it. Daddy gave me this for my birthday."

Yvette murmured a quiet scolding, but Ivy just started sniffling and called out to Zack up front.

Zack, sitting in the front passenger seat, frowned for a moment, but spoke gently.

He coaxed, "When we get home, I will buy you a hundred more pretty dresses just like this one, okay?"

Seeing Zack wasn't angry, Ivy's face lit up with joy, and she cheered happily.

Yvette shot Zack a flirtatious smile.

She said, "Zack, you really shouldn't spoil her so much. This little troublemaker is going to think she can get away with anything."

I turned and noticed a hint of envy in Rona's eyes.

I asked her softly, "Do you like dresses? Want me to get you one too, sweetie?"

Rona slipped her hand into mine; her hand was so warm.

She shook her head, acting all mature.

She said, "Mommy, I don't really like dresses. The clothes Nancy gives me are really nice."

Zack turned to us, his face dark with anger.

He snapped, "Hannah, you actually let Rona wear other people's old clothes? What kind of mom does that?"

His words dripped with accusation.

I looked up at him, listening to his self-righteous accusations, and honestly, I couldn't help but find it ridiculous.

Back then, he sold our marital home and secretly took his business partner's wife and daughter away.

He only gave me a call that lasted less than thirty seconds, right before he boarded the plane.

On the phone, he said, "Yvette's husband died because of me. I can't just walk away from them.

"I've made a vow that wherever I go, I'll never leave their side, and I'll take care of them for the rest of my life. Hannah, you should support me."

He didn't even let me get a word in. At the very last moment, he left me with a promise that felt as light as air.

He said, "Give me ten years. When I come back, I'll marry you."

After that day, he vanished: no phone number, no way for me to reach him.

All he left behind was me, a fiancée, seven months pregnant, and completely alone.

He abandoned me to face the debt collectors all by myself.

Seven months pregnant and all alone, I had to face those debt collectors banging on my door, smashing things, and threatening me in the middle of the night.

Just making it through these five years with Rona was already hard enough.

Noticing that I was zoning out, Zack's face turned even colder.

Rona shielded me, her little body trembling, but she still stared Zack down with her eyes.

She yelled, "Don't you yell at my mom. You're a bad guy. You left her alone."

Zack looked at Rona's increasingly swollen face, and for a moment, guilt flickered in his eyes.

His voice dropped, much quieter now.

He said, "Rona, it's Daddy. I am back."

Rona pouted, then pointed straight at Yvette and Ivy.

She said, "You're not my daddy. My real daddy only has Mommy and me. You already have your own family now.

"Mommy always said Daddy loves me, but you hit me. You're not my daddy."

I gently pulled Rona, her face all wet with tears, into my arms and held her close, hearing her little whimpers as she cried.