15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

“What if.. .” My voice breaks. “What if she came to you and said,
‘My husband tried to rape me, Daddy. He held me down while I begged him to
stop. But he swears he’ll never do it again. What should I do, Daddy?’ ”
He’s kissing her forehead, over and over, tears spilling down his
face.
“What would you say to her, Ryle? Tell me. I need to know what you
would say to our daughter if the man she loves with all her heart ever
hurts her.”
A sob breaks from his chest. He leans toward me and wraps an arm
around me. “I would beg her to leave him,” he says through his tears.
His lips press desperately against my forehead and I can feel some of
his tears as they fall onto my cheeks. He moves his mouth to my ear
and cradles both of us against him. “I would tell her that she is worth
so much more. And I would beg her not to go back, no matter how
much he loves her. She’s worth so much more.”
We become a sobbing mess of tears and broken hearts and
shattered dreams. We hold each other. We hold our daughter. And as
hard as this choice is, we break the pattern before the pattern breaks
us.
He hands her back to me and wipes his eyes. He stands up, still
crying. Still trying to catch his breath. In the last fifteen minutes, he
lost the love of his life. In the last fifteen minutes, he became a father
to a beautiful little girl.
That’s what fifteen minutes can do to a person. It can destroy
them.
It can save them.
He points toward the hallway, letting me know he needs to go
gather himself. He’s sadder than I’ve ever seen him as he walks
toward the door. But I know he’ll thank me for this one day. I know
the day will come when he’ll understand that I made the right choice
by his daughter.
When the door closes behind him, I look down at her. I know I’m
not giving her the life I dreamed for her. A home where she lives with
both parents who can love her and raise her together. But I don’t
want her to live like I lived. I don’t want her to see her father at his
worst. I don’t want her to see him when he loses his temper with me
to the point that she no longer recognizes him as her father. Because