“And it definitely doesn’t give you permission to push the other one out.”
Sara’s arms crossed over her chest. “Why don’t you go see what your child’s issue is and stay out of our business. I won’t tolerate an interfering ex, got it?”
I walked outside without another word.
Zoey was curled up on the porch steps, her arms wrapped around her knees. I sat down next to her, close enough to be reassuring but not so close that she might feel trapped. “Hey,” I said softly.
“You okay?”
I tried a different angle. “It must be scary, huh? Knowing that you’re going to be a big sister?”
My stomach twisted into a knot.
“Who said that?”
“Sara.” Zoey still wasn’t looking at me. “Dad left us alone to bond, or something. But she told me we didn’t need to get to know each other.
That she was starting her own family, and they’d move away soon.”
I felt the anger come back, hotter this time. “She said that to you?”
Zoey nodded. I wrapped my arm around her.
She leaned in immediately, like she’d been waiting for permission. Her whole body was shaking. “You should have told me what she said.”
“Sara said nobody would believe me,” Zoey said.
“She said that if I said anything to anyone, she’d just say I was lying. She said nobody will believe a child over an adult, and I’d just get in trouble for being bad.”
We both turned. Jason was standing on the porch, his face pale.
“Did she really say those things?” He edged closer, like he was afraid of startling Zoey. “And you didn’t tell me… because you thought you’d get in trouble for lying…”
Zoey shrugged, tears spilling down her cheeks. She couldn’t seem to stop them.
Jason’s face crumpled. He looked from Zoey to me, crushed under the weight of what Sara had done to his daughter. I didn’t soften.
“Well, she showed you who she really is now, Jason. It’s on you to do something about it.”
He kneeled beside Zoey. “You’re my daughter,” he said.
“No one — no one — can replace you. Never. I’m not going anywhere, and I wouldn’t give up my time with you for anything in the world, okay?”
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