He Forced Me To Abort Now He Begs Me Back Chapter 16
Gentle sunlight fell across the golden leaves of the aspens, and the breeze carried the crisp promise of autumn.
The stroller rolled over fallen leaves with a soft, rustling sound. Aurora was fast asleep, one cheek tucked against a soft blanket, her breathing light and even.
When I reached the path by the lake, I saw Evan.
He was standing alone on the opposite shore, so thin he was nearly gaunt. His coat hung loosely on his frame, his face was pale, and his whole body seemed drained of all strength.
He saw me, too.
More precisely, he saw me and the baby in the stroller.
Evan took one step forward, his lips moving as if to call my name. But he stopped almost immediately and made no move to come closer.
I met his gaze calmly for three seconds.
Then I bent down and gently lowered the stroller canopy.
His line of sight was cut off completely.
I turned and kept walking without looking back.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a message from my lawyer.
“Saw him?”
I replied, “Yeah. Keeping his distance. I left.”
He wouldn’t come after me.
Not because he didn’t want to.
But because he didn’t dare.
The world he had pushed away with his own hands was one he could now only watch from afar. He once had the chance to be a father. He had once been part of the future I imagined.
He had destroyed it all himself.
I put my phone away and stopped beneath a tree to tuck the slipping corner of Aurora’s blanket back around her.
In her sleep, she stirred. One tiny hand slipped out and closed, with perfect accuracy, around my thumb.
I gently held it.
Then I straightened up and kept pushing the stroller forward.
Sunlight spilled through the gaps in the leaves, dappling the road ahead.
Just before I left the park, my lawyer sent another message.
“Evan just filed a petition to establish paternity and allocate parental responsibilities. He also filed for emergency temporary visitation.”
I stopped walking.
In the stroller, Aurora slept on peacefully.
This time, Evan was going to use our child to try to force that door open again.
I lowered my eyes and typed back.
“File a response.”