No Such Thing As A Hollywood Ending

chapter 40

Henry stepped into the small, sterile room where Amelia was already seated, her hands cuffed to the table as promised. The sight of her made his stomach churn. He hadn't expected to feel such a mix of emotions—anger, confusion, sadness—but here they were, swirling inside him, threatening to spill over.

Amelia looked up at him with tired eyes. She wasn't the girl he'd known before all of this. There was something hollow in her expression, something resigned. But Henry didn't care about that right now. He needed answers. He needed to understand why she had made this decision without talking to him.

"Why did you turn yourself in?" The words came out more harshly than he'd intended, but he couldn't help it. His frustration had been building since the moment he found out what she had done.

Amelia sighed and leaned back in her chair, the handcuffs clinking against the metal table. "Because, Henry... I knew it was the only way."

"The only way for what?" Henry asked, his voice tight with emotion. "We were figuring things out. You didn't have to do this. Why didn't you talk to me first?"

"I knew what you wanted, Henry," Amelia said softly, her gaze dropping to the table. "You want to be involved in the baby's life. You want to be a good dad, and you were already planning to raise Lucy's baby. It made sense that you'd want custody of this one too. And I knew... I knew I couldn't be part of that."

Henry's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't expected her to say that.

"I turned myself in," she continued, "because I knew that if I'm behind bars, the only logical thing for the authorities to do is give you custody of the baby. You're the dad, and... you and Lucy are going to be raising a child together already. I know there'll be a mother figure for our baby, even if it's not me."

Henry stared at her, his heart pounding. He understood what she was saying on a logical level, but that didn't make him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel worse.

"But why didn't you *talk* to me about it?" he asked, his voice rising with frustration. "Lucy and I were going to ask you if we could take this to court, to figure out a custody arrangement. We were thinking maybe I could get custody, but you'd still have supervised visits. That way, you'd still be part of the baby's life, but now... now you've thrown that all away!"

Amelia's eyes flicked up to meet his, and for the first time since he'd entered the room, he saw a flicker of emotion there—regret. "Henry, I... I thought this was the best way. I didn't want you to have to worry about me anymore. I didn't want you to be scared that I might hurt you again. And... I thought this would make it easier for you to raise the baby without me in the picture."

Henry shook his head, anger and sadness mixing together in a painful knot in his chest. "But that's the thing, Amelia. The baby should *know* you. You're still the biological mom. And now, because you're probably going to prison, our child might not even get the chance to know you. How is that better?"

Amelia swallowed hard, her hands fidgeting in the cuffs. "I thought... I thought it would be better for you. For the baby. I didn't think I deserved to be part of the baby's life after what I did to you."

Henry closed his eyes for a moment, trying to steady his emotions. He understood why she felt that way. He understood why she thought turning herself in was the right thing to do. But it didn't make it hurt any less.

"Look," Henry said, his voice softer now, "I get that you feel guilty about what happened. And yeah, what you did was awful. But this isn't just about you or me anymore. This is about our baby. And now... now I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I can even get you supervised visits once you're in prison. And that kills me, because I don't want our child to grow up without knowing their mom."

Amelia bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Henry. I really thought this was the right thing to do."

Henry exhaled sharply, feeling a mix of anger and sadness. "I wish you would've just talked to me first," he said, his voice tight. "We could've figured something out together."

Amelia nodded, her tears finally spilling over. "I'm sorry," she whispered again.

The room fell into a heavy silence, the weight of everything pressing down on them both. Henry's mind was racing, trying to figure out what would come next, what they would do now that this decision had been made without him.

He had wanted to be part of his child's life, to give them the chance to know both of their parents, even if it was complicated. But now... now it felt like that future was slipping through his fingers.

"Can you at least promise me one thing?" Henry asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Amelia looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen from crying. "What?"

"Promise me you won't give up on our baby," Henry said. "Even if you're in prison. Even if you think you don't deserve to be part of their life. Promise me you'll fight for them when you can."

Amelia nodded slowly, her voice shaky. "I promise."

Henry didn't know if that would be enough. He didn't know if they could fix this. But for now, it was all they had.