He Forced Me To Abort Now He Begs Me Back Chapter 25
I didn’t throw a big party for Aurora’s first birthday.
I just invited the few people who had truly walked this road with us to my home.
My lawyer brought a small cake with a golden sun frosted on top.
“For our little dawn.”
Aurora didn’t understand, but she clapped her hands and laughed anyway.
After cake, she held onto my finger and toddled in circles through the living room.
Outside, the aspens were beginning to turn gold again.
I suddenly thought of a year ago, another early autumn just like this one.
Back then, holding her as a newborn, I thought that once the divorce was over, everything would be over.
Later, I understood that leaving someone is only the first step.
Real freedom is refusing to let anyone else’s guilt, blood, or love define your boundaries for you.
My phone lit up.
A message from Evan in OurFamilyWizard:
“Happy birthday to Aurora.”
No requests. Nothing extra.
I archived the message and turned off the screen.
My lawyer handed me an envelope.
Inside wasn’t a legal document, but a donation receipt.
In Aurora’s name, she had made a donation to an organization that helps women facing reproductive coercion.
I looked at it for a long time.
“Next year, I’ll match it.”
She smiled and raised her glass.
“Deal.”
That evening, I took Aurora to Washington Park.
She no longer wanted to sit in her stroller. She insisted on walking by herself.
So I took her hand and led her onto the path by the lake.
A year ago, Evan had stood on the opposite shore. I had lowered her canopy and walked away.
Today, there was no one on the other side.
And there no longer needed to be.
Aurora stepped on a golden leaf and wobbled.
I didn’t scoop her up. I just held her hand more firmly and waited for her to find her balance.
She looked up at me and burst into delighted laughter, then took another determined step.
The lake shimmered in the evening light.
The road ahead of her was long.
She could walk it at her own pace.
And I would stay beside her—but I would never choose her direction for her.
Because her life belongs to her.
And mine, at last, belongs only to me.
The End