My mother didn't answer with words, just a soft smile like she'd caught the faraway look in my eyes. She knew exactly where I'd gone.
"I know it's hard for you to believe," she said gently, "but I've never judged you.... Not once. How could I?"
Her eyes met mine, and I understood what she meant.
She had made the same mistake I had. The father of her child had vanished too.
I remembered the one time I'd dared to ask about my dad. She'd told me plainly that one moment she had told him she was pregnant and then the next second he had disappeared. Just like that. So yes, he knew I existed. He just didn't want to be part of my life. He chose to walk away without ever looking back.
And I had fed her the same story.
I had told her my son's father or the man who got me pregnant... that he, too, had disappeared.
But that wasn't the truth. It wasn't.
