The Draw

36

Christmas was just around the corner. Stacey had broken up from uni for a month and Dan had now finished work for a month too. Stacey wanted to think she'd be miserable and upset over the end of her marriage. But in fact, living back with Dan with their daughter had been amazing so far. It was nice to have her best friend back and to have someone to just...hang out with. She knew it wouldn't last, he'd be back at work again soon, but she enjoyed it while she could. They spent their days together either chilling out in the house playing and messing around with Evie or more day trips to play centres and parks and most importantly, Dans family. They hadn't met her yet. Stacey had been worried about how they might treat her. As far as they knew, she had suddenly turned up out of the blue with a child. She'd had words with Dan about not telling soul about Evie.

'I didn't want anyone to know because I'd been ashamed of what I'd done. If I had told the boys and my family, I would've gotten grief from every angle and I was already doing that enough to myself.' He explained. She tried her best not to dwell on the past too much. There wasn't anything she could do about it.

But of course, his mum and dad fell for her straight away. It was that cheeky smile she had that won everyone over. They doted on her. She loved them. It had all gone rather smoothly. All they really had left to do was to explain to her who Dan was. And that was made difficult by her asking for her daddy every night before bed and as soon as she woke in the mornings.

'But where is Daddy? Daddy at work?' She'd ask.

'Yes sweetie, Daddy is working right now and he can't come home.'

'When can we move back home?'

'Soon, ok?'

Stacey had done everything she could to contact Liam. Not because she wanted her husband back, but because Evie needed her Daddy. The Daddy that had brought her up. And he had dropped her so fast, poor Evie was bound to be affected by it. She wanted Liam to be a part of her life still but it seemed that Liam had washed his hands of both of them. How dare he slate Dan for dumping them when he had done exactly the same thing.

Every night the same questions. The week before Christmas when Stacey had officially given up on Liam ever returning a phone call, she and Dan decided it was time to have the talk with Evie. They were going to explain that Liam was gone and that Dan was her dad. They were going to stay in the house for now, just until everything settled down.

They all sat down in front of the telly, Evie in her pyjamas, sitting on Dans knee. The Christmas tree was up, the house beautifully decorated. He played with her hair as she played with the giraffe teddy Dan had bought her from the zoo a few weeks before. She loved that giraffe.

'So, Mummy, when am I going back to nursery?' She asked randomly.

'After Christmas were going to look at a new nursery because your old one is too far away.'

'Why can't we just move back to our house?'

'Because we don't live there anymore. We live here with Dan now.'

'Do you like it here?' Dan asked.

'Yep! I like sharing a bed with mummy and playing with you. Is Daddy going to move here too?'

'No, he's not.' Stacey said softly.

'But I need to see Daddy now and show him my giraffe.' Evie protested. She exchanged glances with Dan from across the sofa. He gave her a small nod.

'Princess.' Dan started.

'Thats what Daddy calls me.' She smiled sweetly at him.

'Sweetie, Daddy isn't moving here and he's not coming back from work. He's staying away, too far away to come back and see you.' Stacey said it slowly and as carefully as she could so Evie would understand.