Never feel alone

Chapter 31

Stef

"What's going on?" Callie asked, searching our eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"No, sweetheart," Lena assured her. "Not really." She reached out and squeezed Callie's knee. "Honey, I talked to Bill today. He had some news about the adoption."

Callie's eyes widened. "We're not getting adopted, are we?"

"No, I didn't say that," said Lena, patiently.

"Why don't we let Mama say what she has to say?" I suggested. I gave Callie a reassuring wink, and she seemed to relax a little.

"Callie," Lena went on. "It's like this. Bill told me that for some reason, your birth father's parental rights were never terminated when he went to prison. But they've located him, and they're going to be sending him the papers to sign. Once he signs them, we'll be able to legally adopt you and Sophia."

"Oh," she said, letting out a deep sigh of relief. "Okay."

"There's a little more," Lena told her. "Honey, Bill wanted to know if you and Sophia would like to see your father before he signs away his rights to you."

It's completely up to you, whether or not you want to see him," I told her. "No one is going to force you. But in the meantime, we're hoping you could give us some more information. What do you remember about him, love?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Was he a good father?" I asked her, searching her eyes.

Callie looked at me questioningly. "He never hurt us, if that's what you mean."

I nodded, relieved. "Good. That's good."

"I mean, he wasn't father of the year or anything," she explained. "He drank, and he wasn't around much. But he wasn't some terrible person." She smiled sadly. "We weren't really that close. Sophia was his favorite. She was a total daddy's girl. She took him going away really hard."

"Has he ever tried to contact you girls?" Lena asked her.

She shrugged again. "I used to write to him, but he stopped writing back. I guess he just didn't care anymore, so I gave up."

"Sweetheart," my wife said. "Did you know that your father is out of prison?"

"No," Callie replied, genuinely surprised. "Did he just get out?"

Lena turned to me, and we shared a worried glance. I sighed, knowing my wife was hoping I'd break the news to our daughter. "No, baby," I finally said, gently. "No. It seems he was released nearly a year ago."

Her face fell, and she looked down into her lap. "Oh."

There was an uncomfortable silence, until Lena cupped Callie's chin in her hand, forcing her to look at us. "Honey," she said softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm fine."

"How do you feel about seeing him?" I asked her. "Is that something you think you might want to do?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to see him." She looked to each of us. "Can I be excused now?"

"Go ahead, sweetheart," said Lena.

Callie stood up and gave each of us a quick hug, then went upstairs.

"She is not fine," my wife said, once our daughter was out of earshot.

"I know," I agreed, pulling Lena into the hollow of my arm. "Poor kid. As if today hasn't been hard enough. Then hearing this... it's like he left her all over again."