The morning moved slowly after that.
The children were talking more freely.
Lorraine seemed happier with every passing minute.
Terrence stayed close to them.
His fiancée remained quieter.
The engagement ring box was no longer in her hands.
It sat on the table.
I didn't know whether she would leave it there or take it with her.
That wasn't my concern.
I was watching Mason and Wyatt.
They had started asking Terrence questions about his childhood.
He answered patiently.
Sometimes he looked toward me.
I didn't interrupt.
I wanted the children to have the freedom to speak to him.
But I also wanted them to understand that nobody could demand an instant relationship.
After a while, Terrence approached me.
"Keahu, can we talk?"
I nodded.
We moved toward the window.
Outside, the snow had settled across the lawn.
The place where the helicopter had touched down was still visible.
Terrence looked at it.
Then he turned toward me.
"I've been thinking."
I waited.
He took a breath.
"I don't know where to start."
I looked at him.
"Start with the truth."
He nodded.
"I was wrong."
I said nothing.
He continued.
"I should have listened when you told me you were pregnant."
I remembered that day.
I remembered how many times I had tried to make him understand.
He looked toward the children.
"I should have been there."
I nodded.
"Yes."
He rubbed his hands together.
"I can't believe they're eight already."
I looked at him.
"They are."
He seemed to struggle with what to say next.
"Do you think there's a chance I could get to know them?"
I considered the question.
This was not something I could answer with a simple yes or no.
The children had their own feelings.
They had their own understanding of family.
And they had never known Terrence as their father.
"That depends on what you do from now on."
He nodded.
I continued.
"You can't appear once and expect everything to change."
"I understand."
"You have to be consistent."
He looked at me.
"I want to try."
I believed he meant it in that moment.
But I had learned something important over the years.
Words were easy.
Showing up was harder.
I didn't want to make promises on behalf of four children.
I didn't want to tell him that everything would be fine.
And I didn't want to make him believe that one Christmas gathering could erase the past.
I simply said, "Then start by getting to know them."
He looked toward the seating area.
Mason was talking.
Wyatt was listening.
Delilah was smiling at Lorraine.
Savannah was sitting beside her grandmother.
Terrence watched them.
"They're beautiful."
I smiled.
"They are."
He looked at me again.
"Thank you for bringing them."
I nodded.
There was something almost painful about hearing him say that.
I had brought them because they deserved to meet their family.
But I had also brought them because I was no longer afraid of what Terrence might think.
Eight years earlier, I had been frightened of losing him.
Now I was standing in front of him with four children who had made my life full.
I didn't need him to approve of the family I had built.
Terrence lowered his eyes.
"There's something else."
I waited.
"I know I can't ask you to forgive me today."
I looked at him.
He seemed sincere.
But I had no intention of giving him an answer simply because the moment was emotional.
"Then don't ask."
He nodded.
I continued.
"Just understand what happened."
He looked at the children again.
"I do."
I wasn't sure he understood all of it.
But perhaps he was beginning to.
A little later, Lorraine called everyone toward the dining area.
She wanted the children to sit with her.
Mason and Wyatt moved first.
Delilah and Savannah followed.
I watched them settle in.
Terrence stood nearby.
His fiancée remained apart for a moment before moving closer to the others.
The ring box was still on the table.
Nobody mentioned it.
I took one last look around the room.
The same house.
The same Christmas decorations.
The same family gathering Terrence had invited me to attend.
But nothing was as he had expected.
He had thought I would arrive alone.
He had thought I would be the woman he remembered.
Instead, I had arrived with four children.
And now, as I watched them sit beside their grandmother, I understood that the most important part of the day had already happened.
My children were no longer strangers to that family.
And I was no longer the woman waiting outside a life that had rejected her.
I had built my own.
Click here to continue reading: PART 17: Christmas Dinner Continued, but the Four Children Sitting Beside Terrence Made Him Face the Years He Could Never Recover
Eight Years After He Abandoned Me, My Ex-Husband Sent an Invitation That Revealed Exactly What He Still Thought of Me
Part 16 of 20
