Page 195 of Seasons of Love
ELLIS
After the rush of the last sixteen hours, I’m afraid I’ve made a huge mistake by getting involved.
I pace the small living room in Milo’s house.
He comes rushing in and jumps straight into my arms.
“Ellis.”
He holds me so tight I can barely breathe. Then he releases me and pushes me away.
“Where were you? I was worried sick. Why didn’t you call me or leave a message?”
“I couldn’t. If I told you where I was going, you would have tried to stop me.”
He drops down on a chair and covers his face with his hands. “You’re leaving, aren’t you? You lied. You said you loved me, but you’re going back to him.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He looks at me, so heartbroken. “Alice said you had to take a trip. You always follow your heart. You wanted your son more than anything.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I kneel in front of him. “Baby, that boy was never my son. He was a dream I had, and I wanted it so much that I forgot everything else. What you and I have is more important than anything. If there’s a child I ever want to be mine, that’s your daughter. I want to be able to love her like a father and for her to recognize me as such. And I want to do that with you. I don’t know why you’d think I don’t want you or that I’d go back to my ex—”
“Where’s Sara?”
“In the nursery.”
He stands.
“Milo…”
I follow him. Sara is on Gloria’s lap, playing with one of her favorite books.
She calls Dada, but Milo is frozen.
He looks at me. His eyes filled with tears.
“What did you do?”
“Milo, please listen.”
He walks out of the bedroom.
“I can’t believe you’d betray me like this. You went to get her? Is she going to take Sara away?”
He walks to the door. “I can’t watch it happen.”
I manage to stop him before he opens the door. “Milo, listen to me, please. No one is taking Sara away. Sara is yours. Please listen to Gloria.”
He cleans his tears with his shirt and sits at the table.
Gloria comes out of the room with Sara, handing her over to me.
“Milo, we need to talk,” she says. “But first, I need to apologize to you.”
He looks up at her.
“Finding out my daughter died at her own hand and then finding out the same day that she left a baby behind was too much for me to handle. I think I was on a happiness and adrenaline train when I bought all the toys. Then I got to my hotel room, and I realized that I hadn’t processed any of the information properly. That’s why I left and sent the toys through someone else. When I arrived in Chicago, there was this emptiness. I didn’t need to search for my daughter anymore. I had no purpose. So I thought my purpose was to raise Sara. I spoke to my attorney, who, by the way, gave me some bad advice, so he is no longer my attorney. That was when I called you.
