Chapter 9
I found it laughable. I had spent what felt like a lifetime waiting for Zach to say he loved me –and now, only after I no longer loved him, the word finally came so easily to his lips.
“But I don’t love you,” I said, looking straight at him, my voice flat and emotionless. It sounded almost cruel.
Zach’s tears fell silently. He shook his head with a broken smile, somewhere between desperation and disbelief.
“That’s impossible, Anna… How could you not love me? We were together for six years. Don’t lie to me. I don’t believe it…” His voice cracked. “And Kathy–Kathy must miss me. A child needs her father…”
That forced smile stayed plastered on his face, sitting awkwardly against the weight of his unraveling composure.
Before he could say more, Kathy burst out of the room and planted herself firmly in front of
- me.
“I don’t like you either,” she said loudly. “I don’t want a daddy like you.”
Zach froze. The smile on his face hardened, then faltered. He stared at us–me and Kathy-
as if the floor had dropped out from under him. The hurt in his eyes was plain.
He squatted down slowly, smile still stuck on his face, and opened his arms toward her, his
voice trembling.
“Kathy, don’t say that. Daddy’s here to take you and Mommy home. Come on, tell Mommy to come with me. I’ll buy you a new toy, okay?”
Kathy clung tightly to my leg, her small arms wrapped around me like she was bracing for something.
“We don’t like you,” she said firmly. “Go back by yourself. You like Felicia and Auntie
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Chapter 9
Jennifer. You never liked me or Mommy.”
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I gently stroked her back, afraid she might cry. But she didn’t. She just held on tighter.
Every time Zach tried to move closer, she gripped me more tightly.
Then Rowan stepped forward, right on cue. He smiled and reached out his hand to Kathy.
“Does Kathy like me?” he asked softly.
Kathy let go of my leg and leapt into his arms without hesitation. Her voice came out sweet and light, “I like Uncle Rowan.”
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Rowan raised an eyebrow and looked over at Zach. The look on his face wasn’t smug exactly, but it wasn’t far from it either. It said: See? Now I’m the one they care about.
“Zach,” he said casually, “are you planning to stay for dinner or something? I should let you know, we don’t have any extra beds here tonight. We won’t be able to host you.”
Zach clenched his jaw. His eyes flicked back to me, voice barely a whisper now, like he had shrunk into the smallest version of himself. “Anna… please come home. Don’t do this…”
My voice was cold. “That’s never going to happen. And before I say something worse, I suggest you leave and don’t come back.”
Zach looked at me for a long time. His throat moved as he swallowed something heavy.
“I’ll go,” he said hoarsely. “I’ll go… Just don’t be mad, Anna.”
For the next two months, Zach didn’t appear in front of me again.
Ever since that conversation in his office, Rowan had been especially attentive. He told me he’d prove his feelings were real. And honestly, I could feel it.
Under the gentle prodding of our coworkers, we got together.
It didn’t take long before he brought up marriage.
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Chapter 9
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When we passed out wedding candies at the office, there were cheers and laughter all around. Someone even said, “I knew it! Rowan has had a thing for you this whole time. He’s always so cold with everyone else, but with you, he’s like a different person. Something was definitely off.”
That’s when I realized–he’d always treated me differently.
When Kathy found out we were together, she threw her arms around me, grinning from ear
to ear.
“Mommy,” she asked, “am I going to have a daddy who likes me now?”
I hesitated. I didn’t know how to answer her.
Because of that, Rowan and I put off registering our marriage for a few days.
He noticed. He saw the hesitation in me, the doubts. So, on the day we finally agreed to register our marriage, he took me to sign a stock transfer first.
“This is a share in a supermarket I invested in,” he said. “It’s not much now, but the
dividends will grow. It’s something for you and Kathy. A kind of
guarantee.”
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