No Regrets

Chapter 2

I looked at him surprised, "How can you be my dad? You look nothing like him." Liam was a brown haired, blue-eyed man and the person sitting in front of me was the complete opposite of him. They looked nothing like each other when it came to face structure as well. Liam had a nubian nose and the man in front of me had a Greek nose, Liam had a chiseled jaw, while his was soft, and Liam's eyes always looked scornful, but his were empathetic and kind. This man claiming to be my father couldn't be, I knew Liam from the inside out, and this wasn't him.

He stared at me with such affection only a father could have and answered, "Because I am not that man your mother raised you to call 'dad.' I am, however, your real dad." He noticed the confusion taking over my face and asked, "Maggie, do you know what a stepdad is?" He was trying to convince me that he wasn't a liar and in fact, my mom hid the truth for years. But, he also wasn't trying to make my mom look like a bad woman, and I appreciated that.

I shook my head, "No I don't. What is that?" Stepdad, I never heard of that word, and it confused me. I broke it down and imagined it was a dad who walked, took steps. That was all I could think of and wondered if that's what he was going to tell me.

He took a long inhale and began, "Well, when a mom and dad fall in love, they can sometimes decide to have children. And sometimes they fall out of love and because of this they separate, that's called a divorce." He looked at my puzzled face and continued, "When a divorce happens, mom falls in love again. But with someone else, no longer dad. They get married which would make that man the child's stepdad. In your case, me and your mom had you but when you were still in her stomach, we left each other. She was in love with Liam and had married him. That would make Liam your stepdad." He pointed at himself, "I am your father and that will never change. Does that make sense?"

A smile was brought to my face, although it was a lot of information, I understood the best I could. Mom had me when she and him were married and then they stopped loving each other. Mom married Liam, and he was my dad from then on. I wondered how this could be when my mother told me her love story with Liam. She and him met during her time as a college student and they quickly got married. While married with him, she had me. In no point of the story was this man calling himself my father involved. "Why did you and mother never tell me?" I wondered why I had never met him. Even if mother hid this truth from me, he must have tried looking for me. His eyes, smile, and tone all were of a kind father. The father I always dreamt of having. So, why did he not come looking for me? Save me from the evil man Liam. If he did, I would have been raised by him. Kind and loving, honest and nurturing, I could have that, he was all that.

He looked taken aback and had to think on it momentarily, "Because I could not find you. Liam took mom away and I was not able to find out where he had taken you both. Until now! That's why I am visiting you today. And your mom... she might not have told you because of Liam's cruelty. If he were reminded that you weren't his child, he might have lashed out on your mom. You wouldn't want that would you?"

I shook my head, of course I would never want my mom to get hurt by Liam. If this was a way to protect herself from him, it made sense, and I wasn't angry at her for keeping this secret. This was also, a lot of information to process and I had trouble understanding it fully. But from what he told me, I was able to grasp that the man that hurt my mom and made me scared to be around him, would never come back into my life. My real dad has come to save me and to protect us both from Liam. "I'm glad you found me, dad!" I said wanting to hug him but was afraid to as I never hugged Liam. I wanted to feel his warmth and his love. I wanted to erase the fear and terror that Liam left in my heart.

I threw myself at him, fully trusting my new dad and wanting nothing more than for him to be in my life for good. I hugged him, hugging a dad for the first time. I could smell his cologne, smelling just like burning rocks, it was amazing. He hugged me tightly, feeling his arms come fully around me, he squeezed and laid his head on mine. I closed my eyes and felt his heart beat. I loved him, I loved him as much as I loved mother. I was so happy to finally feel this sense of security from a man. His black suit felt uncomfortable as it touched my pajamas, but I didn't care. His embrace was better than I had imagined.