“That’s all you ever hoped for?” I try to lighten the mood with a cheeky grin but fail miserably. She glances down at her hands, unwilling to meet my gaze.
“I’d stopped allowing myself to hope for anything more. Hoping for a future with you, hoping you’d change your mind and beg for forgiveness...” She pauses and takes a deep breath, and I almost ask her to stop. It’s too painful hearing her confession. It makes us too angry, too remorseful, too... raw. “By the time I finally heard from you again, I was already so hurt and angry.” A single tear finally breaks loose and rolls down her cheek. “I was so fucking angry,” she admits, “that I couldn’t let myself forgive you. And I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.”
“Abby,” I plead, her guilt over what happened breaking my heart as I watch a few more tears spill out of her eyes.
“I was too bull-headed to listen to what you had to say. If I’d been less concerned with my own feelings and more concerned with what was best for Chloe, maybe I would’ve let you talk that day. Maybe we would have figured out this whole deception two years ago, and you wouldn’t have missed out on all this time with her.” She closes her eyes and hangs her head, a few more tears escaping. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close, letting her spill her grief and guilt onto my shoulder.
“None of this is your fault. Whoever did this to us knew the impact their meddling would have on our relationship.” She sniffles as my hand strokes up and down her back. She’s not the only one who feels guilty. I should’ve kept trying. I should’ve come back and made her listen to me. But I keep all that to myself. I don’t want to drag this on, lamenting over our shared regret and letting our guilt overshadow all the good that’s come out of the past week.
“The important thing is that I’m here now, and we know the truth. Chloe has both her parents and will never have to go without having one of us in her life again.” She pulls back and stares into my eyes, her emerald depths searching for any signs of uncertainty. She won’t find any. I’m all in this time. No doubts. No fear. “I love you and I love our little girl. Nothing will ever change that or come between us again.” I brush my fingers over her damp cheeks, ridding them of any remaining moisture. Bringing her face toward mine, our lips meet in a soft kiss, the salty taste of her tears absorbing onto my tongue.
“I love you, too.” She closes her eyes and I press my forehead to hers. We stay like that for a moment, her warm skin on my face and hands, our breath mingling, my lips yearning to soothe any ache she may still feel. When we break apart, I place a quick kiss to her forehead and slip out the driver’s side. I open her door, holding her hand as she slides out of her seat. She laces her fingers with mine and when I look at her, a smile graces her soft pink lips. We walk into the familiar stone building and my mind is flooded with memories from that night more than two years ago. Let’s hope tonight ends the same way.