Ethan was in no rush. It was a glorious afternoon, the sun beating down with a midsummer intensity that felt good on his shoulders. He found a spot on a park bench beneath the shade of a sprawling maple tree and closed his eyes, sitting in silence for a few minutes. The workday was finally over; he could breathe. He didn't feel like bothering with dinner tonight. With the weekend stretching out before him, he mentally scrolled through the local options. His favorite was a cozy little place called The Lotus. The food was excellent, and while the menu wasn't huge, the service was fast. Plus, if he wasn't feeling social, he could always grab a takeout container and head home.
A faint rustle nearby broke his train of thought. Cracking his eyes open, he saw a young woman pushing a stroller past him. She took a seat on the same bench, keeping a bit of distance between them. She immediately pulled out her phone, looking as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist.
Ethan watched her out of the corner of his eye.
She was very young—hardly a woman yet, more of a teenager. Motherhood hadn't yet given her figure any typical softness; she was tall and lanky with long, blonde hair.
The baby shifted in the stroller and began to fuss. She didn't react right away. It was clear that whatever was on her screen was far more interesting than the child. Eventually, she stood up with a heavy sigh and fished around for a dropped pacifier. The infant began to suck on it with a loud, rhythmic smacking sound.
"The poor kid is probably thirsty. It's a furnace out here," Ethan thought to himself.
***
No one saw the storm clouds gathering until they were directly overhead. A jagged bolt of lightning ripped through the sky, followed instantly by a crack of thunder that seemed to shake the earth. Within seconds, the wind picked up, driving a wall of torrential rain horizontal. Neither Ethan nor the young woman had an umbrella. She froze, looking panicked and unsure of where to run.
"Run for the bus shelter!" he shouted over the wind. He grabbed the handle of the stroller and sprinted toward the park exit. It was barely a hundred feet away, but by the time they reached cover, they were both soaked to the bone.
The baby started wailing, terrified by the thunder. The mother scooped her up. It was a little girl, maybe three or four months old, and her clothes were damp too.
"She's too little for this; she'll catch a chill," Ethan said. "Look, there's a café right next door. Why don't you come inside? Do you have dry clothes for her?"
The young mother nodded quickly. "Yes, in the bag. I hope they stayed dry," she said, offering a timid smile.
"She's just a kid herself," Ethan thought, feeling a sudden, strange pang of pity for her.
That was how he met Megan. After that day, Ethan started running into her frequently in the park. It was as if she were "accidentally" crossing his path whenever he was there. They started taking long walks together and grabbing dinner at the café afterward.
Megan was a single mother living in a cramped studio apartment provided by a local social housing program. She had only qualified for the unit because of the baby. She had moved to the city from out of state, and as for a husband? There wasn't one, and there never had been.
Ethan wasn't particularly attracted to Megan, but he found himself deeply attached to her daughter, little Lily. Megan eventually felt comfortable enough to let him watch the baby for an hour or two while she ran errands. One afternoon, a coworker spotted him in the park with the child.
"Whoa, Ethan! I didn't know you were a family man," Mark said, beaming. "What have we got here? A boy or a girl?"
"A daughter," Ethan replied, his voice softening. In that moment, he almost believed it himself—that this tiny, warm bundle in his arms was his own flesh and blood.
***
One evening, Ethan noticed that Megan was unusually quiet. She wasn't her usual chatty self and didn't even seem excited when he bought her favorite ice cream. It took a while, but she finally spilled the story. The housing complex was being decommissioned and handed over to a private developer. Because of budget cuts and her lack of local employment, she had been given one week to find a new place and move out.
"They have to provide you with an alternative," Ethan said, stunned by the news. "You have an infant. There are laws."
"Who's going to give us anything?" she snapped. "Who cares about us?"
"I care," he said, the decision forming instantly. "Let's go pack your things. You're coming with me. Is that okay?"
A few hours later, Megan and Lily were settled in his guest room. They didn't have much to their names. "I need to get these girls some decent clothes," he thought as he drifted into a heavy sleep.
Late that autumn, they had a quiet ceremony at City Hall. Ethan legally adopted Lily, giving her his last name.
His relationship with Megan never moved past a platonic friendship. Neither of them seemed to want more. When he got home from work or on the weekends, he devoted himself entirely to his daughter.
Meanwhile, Megan started going out to "clear her head." She claimed she was exhausted from being with the baby all day.
"Ethan, I might stay over at Sarah's tonight. You don't mind, do you?" she would ask, her voice uncharacteristically sweet.
"No, I don't mind," he'd say. He truly didn't. It meant he and Lily would have the weekend to themselves, and she was the only one he cared about. He even gave Megan extra money, hoping she'd stay at "Sarah's" as long as possible. He had suspected for a long time that there was another man, but the fear of losing his daughter kept his lips sealed. He stayed silent.
***
By the time she was three, Lily started preschool. Ethan was the one who dropped her off and picked her up every day.
Megan had found a job as a waitress at a local diner. She made enough to cover her own lifestyle, while "her husband" provided everything for their daughter.
Preschool came and went, and they began preparing for first grade. By then, Megan would disappear for weeks at a time. When she did come home, she was cold toward Lily, sometimes acting as if the girl weren't even in the room.
Ethan was planning to buy a new house closer to the city center, near a better school district. He wasn't sure what to do with his current condo—maybe rent it out? He was successful enough that he didn't need the sale money to move.
One night, Megan came home very late, clearly tipsy. Ethan met her in the kitchen.
"Megan, you've completely forgotten you have a daughter," he said, struggling to keep his voice steady. "A mother shouldn't act like this."
"Shouldn't?!" she screamed, her voice rising to a shrill pitch. "How am I supposed to act when my life is a mess? And she's the one who ruined it!"
"Keep your voice down! You'll wake Lily," he hissed, desperate to keep the child from seeing her mother like this.
"Two guys... in a dark alley... I was only seventeen!" she began to hysterical, her words tumbling out in a sob of self-pity. "I had just moved here for college. I failed my exams. I took that factory job. And then... that happened."
She began to weep uncontrollably.
"I don't even know which one of them is the father. I was too scared to get an abortion. I barely remember the birth; they had to do a C-section. I wanted to leave her at the hospital, but they promised me a room if I kept her! I don't feel anything for her! I want to forget it all, but I can't. Every time I look at Lily, I just think, 'Which one of those monsters gave her to me?'"
Lily appeared in the doorway. From the look on her face, she had been standing there a long time. She had heard everything.
"Daddy? Daddy, you won't leave me, will you?" She ran to Ethan and clung to his legs. Her small body was trembling, and her tear-filled, terrified eyes searched his for an answer. "You won't leave me?"
Ethan scooped her up and pressed her to his chest.
"Sweetheart, what are you saying? You are my whole world! My sunshine. Don't you ever, ever think that. I love you more than anything."
The little girl relaxed in his arms, wrapping her tiny hands around his neck. "My daddy," she whispered.
Ethan and Lily moved into the new house. He transferred the title of the old two-bedroom condo to Megan. In exchange, she signed away all parental rights and agreed to a permanent restraining order, giving up any right to ever see the girl again.
It was exactly what she wanted.
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