At My Baby Shower He Celebrated Another Woman’s Child Chapter 21
My voice was quiet, but it cut through the room.
“When you hung up the first time, you still had another chance. When the second call came, you still chose Sadie.”
“The one who truly had no second chance was Iris.”
He lowered his head, his shoulders shaking.
A moment later, he signed.
As the pen scratched across the paper, voices rose outside the door.
My mother was crying. “We just want to see her. Please, just once.”
My father was promising June that they wouldn’t upset me.
I gathered the agreement.
“Let them in.”
Diane rushed into the room, and the first thing she saw was the wooden plaque on the table.
She covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
“Nora, I was so wrong.”
Paul placed two signed revocation forms in front of me.
They had already signed them.
“From now on, we won’t interfere in your medical care, your finances, or your life,” my father said, his voice hoarse. “But please, don’t cut us off completely.”
I looked at them.
A year ago, I had called them in the rain, desperate for a place to go.
My father had told me my room belonged to Sadie.
My mother had told me to grow up.
“The monthly support payments will continue as arranged,” I said. “Beyond that, there is no relationship.”
My mother lunged forward as if to hug me.
June stepped between us.
“Mrs. Whitmore, Nora doesn’t want that.”
My mother froze.
“I just wanted to see Iris…”
“You had your chance to hear her name.”
I picked up the plaque.
“The hospital called you four times. You didn’t answer once.”
My mother’s hands fell slowly to her sides.
My father looked like he wanted to say more, but in the end, he just held his wife up and guided her out.
As they reached the door, I called out.
They both turned, a desperate hope flaring in their eyes.
But all I said was, “Stop turning living people into ghosts of the children you’ve lost.”
After the door closed, Graham was still sitting there.
He looked at my parents as if he were seeing his own future.
Tears that come too late might win you a single meeting.
But they can’t win you back a place in someone’s life.