He didn’t yell. He didn’t even ask who the father was. He simply wiped his hands on a rag, looked through me, and said flatly, “Then you’d better figure it out on your own.”
That was it. No argument. No goodbye. Just a door closing behind me — quietly, permanently.
Building a Life from Scratch
I rented a tiny apartment that smelled like damp paint and loneliness. I stocked grocery shelves by day and cleaned offices at night. My paychecks vanished into diapers and rent. When my belly grew, people’s kindness shrank. But in that loneliness, I found a fierce kind of strength.
When my son, Liam, was born, I held him in a hospital room lit only by the glow of the machines. There were no visitors, no congratulations — just me and this small miracle. I whispered a promise over his sleeping face: “You’ll never feel unwanted.”
Years passed. Liam grew into everything I’d ever hoped for — hardworking, kind, determined. By fifteen, he was already fixing engines part-time. By seventeen, his hands carried the same confidence my father’s once had.
