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I sat in front of the woman who I once loved and could barely recognize her. Her big curly hair was now limp and lifeless. Her face was covered in sorrow. I remember the day I met her, the day I fell in love, the day she broke my heart, and the day she gave me my son.
I never had any luck when it came to women. I always ended up having my heart shattered into millions of pieces and it was always my fault. At least that's what they told. And at one point time, I believed them.
There's no doubt in my mind that I really did love Michelle. She was the woman I wanted to marry. We had our entire life planned out until she cheated on me. She found the attention she was craving, from someone else. And he had money. But I took her back because my love outweighed any of her wrongs. Then she cheated again, and once again, I took her back. My friends called me stupid and my mom said I was a fool all because I was in love.
Then she left me for good. Said I wasn't a real man because I allowed her to walk all over me. She disappeared for a while and slipped into depression. I refused to leave my room, I couldn't eat, and my art suffered.
Months later, she was back, this time with a baby. A little boy and he was mine. Happiness returned to my life. We decided to work on our relationship for the sake of the baby. For a month, we were the ideal picture perfect family. Then she lost her job and that's when I lost her forever. To her, money was more important than family. She'd leave for weeks at a time then return for a few days. We'd argue, she'd hit me, then leave.
I finally decided that I don't need her. I promised to raise my baby on my own and that's what I've been doing. I refuse to allow her to come in and out of Cameron's life as she pleases.
"Why are you here?" I asked, finally breaking the silence between us.
"I want to be in Cameron's life," she said which made me laugh.
"All of a sudden. You can't just pop up after four months and decide to be in his life."
"He's my son!" she yelled, "He needs his mom."
"He's already with his mom," I spat back, growing angry.
Zoey has been a mother to Cameron since she's stepped into his life. From the first tooth to first steps, she has been there.
"Cayman, I'm sorry for everything. Leaving Cameron was something I had to do," she began to tear up, "They guy I cheated on you with said he was going to kill you if I didn't leave you and he was going to hurt Cameron," she cried.
All I could do was stare at her and watch the tears roll down her cheeks.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I made a bad decision and it's still causing harm," she reached over the table, gently placed her hand on mine, and looked right into my eyes, "I still love you Cayman and I want us to be a family."
I quickly snatched my hand away and clenched my jaw.
"If you loved me, you wouldn't have hurt me so many times," I quickly blinked to prevent the tears from falling, "I'm not going to keep Cameron away from you, but you'll see him when I say so," I said then walked away.
••••
I walked into my house and smiled at the sight of Zoey and Cameron sitting on the floor watching t.v.
"Daddy's home," Zoey cheered and Cameron began to clap.
He slowly stood up and took his time waddling over to me. Once he made it to my arms, I lifted him up and tossed him in the air.
"Don't drop him!" Zoey yelled. She hates it when I do that.
I placed Cameron back on his feet and took a seat next to Zoey. I kissed her cheek and she smiled.
"How'd everything go?" she asked in a worried tone.
I told Zoey about what happened then felt the tears pour out. That woman has put me through so much and reliving the past began to weigh on my spirit.
Zoey said nothing. She simply pulled me closer to her then wiped my tears. She wrapped her arms around my body and I placed my head on her chest as I continued to let the tears fall.
"I'm so proud of you," she finally said, "I know this is a lot for you right now but things will get better."
I lifted my head from her chest and stared into her big dark brown eyes. There's no reason for me to be crying over the past with Michelle when I have all I've ever wanted with Zoey.
"Thank you," I said after placing a soft kiss on her chin.
"Now stop being sad and let's go get some ice cream. My treat," Zoey suggested.
"You know I don't like ice cream."
"But I do," she smiled then got up and left the living room.
