Chapter 8: The Regret
Marcus sat in silence for a long time after Kesha finished speaking.
The confident, arrogant man who had invited his ex-wife to Christmas dinner expecting to humiliate her was gone. In his place was someone who looked lost and ashamed.
He kept glancing at the children.
Especially at Noah, who looked the most like him.
Finally, he spoke.
“I made the biggest mistake of my life,” he said, his voice rough. “I was young and selfish. I thought having a child would ruin everything I had planned. I never imagined…”
He looked at all four of them.
“I never imagined this.”
Kesha didn’t soften.
“You didn’t just abandon me, Marcus. You abandoned them before they were even born. And now they’re eight years old. They’ve already lived eight years without you.”
Marcus swallowed hard.
“I want to make it right,” he said. “I want to be in their lives.”
Kesha studied him carefully.
“It’s not that simple anymore. They don’t know you. And I won’t force them to have a relationship with someone who might disappear again when things get hard.”
Marcus looked genuinely pained.
“I won’t disappear. I swear.”
Kesha didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she looked at her children.
“What do you think?” she asked them gently. “Would you like to get to know your father?”
The four children exchanged glances.
Noah was the one who answered.
“Only if he promises not to leave again,” he said seriously. “Mommy cried a lot when we were little. We don’t want her to cry anymore.”
Marcus’s face crumpled.
Kesha felt her heart squeeze at her son’s words.
She looked back at Marcus.
“You heard them,” she said. “Any relationship you want with them will have to be earned. Slowly. And on their terms — not yours.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
For the first time since she arrived, Kesha saw something real in his eyes.
Regret.
May you like
Genuine, painful regret.
But whether it was enough remained to be seen.
