When You Finally Chose Us

Chapter 2

The next morning Lucien came home with a huge box of premium strawberries.

"Mia, look what I got!" He set a bowl of freshly rinsed strawberries right in front of the little girl.

"Wow, giant strawberries! Thank you, Daddy!"

Watching the warm, sweet scene between father and daughter unfold in front of me, my resolve wavered a little again.

If Yvette and her daughter hadn't been in the picture, Lucien really would have been a great husband and a loving dad.

He had the day off, and just like every other time he had time off, he planned to spend the whole day with Mia.

That is, if Yvette hadn't called him away.

I'd just finished wrapping up my onboarding discussions with the relevant contacts at Aurora Voyages, and got home around noon.

The second I stepped through the door, I found Mia sitting all alone on the living room floor, sobbing her heart out.

Her eyelids and earlobes were puffed up like balloons. Her face, neck, and arms were covered in huge, raised hives.

She was already starting to gasp for air.

She was having a severe allergic reaction.

I paced outside the hospital emergency room, my stomach twisted in knots as I prayed over and over that Mia would pull through.

I called Lucien for the fifteenth time. It went straight to voicemail again, just like the last fourteen. Still no answer.

When the doctor finally stepped out, I practically sprinted over to him.

"Doctor, is my daughter going to be all right?"

"Ma'am, your daughter's condition is stable now. You got her here just in time, any later, and she would have gone into shock. You can go in and sit with her now."

"Thank you, doctor, thank you so much."

Mia looked so tiny lying in the hospital bed, the angry red rashes still splotched across her face.

When she spotted me, she spoke in a soft, hoarse whisper. "Mommy, Cecily gave me prawn crackers. She said if I ate them, she'd give my teddy bear back. Then Cecily cut her finger doing crafts, and Daddy picked her up and left with her.

"I felt so sick, but there was no one home." As she spoke, fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Watching her cry in pain, I remembered what the doctor had told me earlier.

"Your daughter is pretty shaken up. Spend as much time with her as you can these days, and don't upset her."

"Mia," I said, brushing my hand gently over her hair, "in two days, Mommy's taking you to go live in Norway, okay? No Daddy, just us."

"Okay. I don't want Daddy anymore."

This time, I was getting Mia out of here for good.

Leftover love, the scraps someone else leaves behind, isn't real love.

I unlocked my phone, and the first notification that popped up was a message from Lucien.

Lucien: Cecily got hurt. I was just with her at the doctor's. What's up?

Right after that, a social media post from Yvette popped up on my screen.

So grateful for our family's guardian angel.

The attached photo showed Lucien holding Cecily in his arms, wrapping a bandage around her injured hand.

They looked exactly like a real, happy little family of three.

That post stung so bad it made my eyes burn.

Lorraine: Let's get a divorcé.

I barely hit send on that message to Lucien before his call came through.

"Lorraine, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Urgency and concern laced his voice.

"Lucien, Mia's in the hospital."

"What? What happened to Mia? I—"

In the background, Yvette's soft voice cut in, "Lucien, the doctor said Cecily needs a tetanus shot right now. Can you go with her? I have an emergency I have to handle."

"Lorraine, I've got something to take care of here. You're with Mia anyway, right? I'll talk to you in detail when I get home tonight."

Staring at the phone screen that had just gone dark from his abrupt hang-up, a sharp, stinging ache surged up in my chest like a rising tide.

It's always the same thing. As long as I'm with Mia, he thinks everything is fine.

It's fine. It doesn't matter anymore.

In two more days, we'll leave this place for good.