He laces his fingers behind his head, pressing the palms against the side of his skull in what appears to be very real frustration. “I have a feeling you aren’t going to believe me when I tell you this, but…” He pauses, and my body tenses as I wait for him to confess why he abandoned me and worse, why he’s pretending he’s never been in this house. “But I have amnesia.”
I nearly fall over in the chair. “You have what?”
“Amnesia,” he repeats. He rubs a hand over his jaw as if he’s not quite sure how to explain this. “About ten months ago, I was in a coffee shop meeting my family because I had something to tell them.” I open my mouth to ask what he was going to share, but he raises his hand. “They don’t know what I was going to tell them, only that I wanted to meet. As I was walking into the place, a chandelier fell and struck me on the head.”
He shoves aside the dark brown hair at his temple and I see a faint white mark at the temple that didn’t exist before. My stomach clenches. No. Do not fall for this bullshit, I order. I fold my arms across my chest and glare at him.
He continues anyway. “I suffered something called retrograde amnesia. I remember everything preceding a particular time period and then after, but nothing in between.”
“That’s super convenient,” I reply, but part of me wonders what is convenient about his story at all. Convenient would be never coming to Fulton again. Convenient would be not following me home. Creating this story seems like a lot of work.
“I’m sure it sounds fake as hell, which is why I’m having my doctor come over and explain it to you.”
“You’re having your doctor come over to explain it to me?” I repeat incredulously
He gives me an abrupt nod. “I thought about it on the way over here. I could tell you, but, as you have shown, it’s not believable. Medical records could be faked, but not the thousands of them that exist, and really, if I’m trying to avoid paternity, why would I go to the trouble of having them recreated? It’s my best proof.”
My head is officially spinning. He has amnesia? That’s an actual thing and not a made-up diagnosis for soap operas. No. I don’t believe it. He’s lying, but for what reason? He could have just stayed gone and I wouldn’t have ever known. I’d already resigned myself to raising Anna by myself. Yes, I made a scene in the grocery store, but I was willing to let him go. Instead of retreating, though, he followed me. None of this makes sense.
“Why?” I demand. “Why are you trying to sell me on this ridiculous medical theory? Why not just stay gone?” The anger that I’ve kept pushing down rises. “I won’t fight you. Anna and I are perfectly fine without you in our lives.”
He flinches as if I’ve slapped him. Guilt tweaks my gut, but I ignore it. I’m right to be angry. This man abandoned me. I had to hunt him down, and when I found him, all I got was a snotty thug telling me that Jack knew and didn’t want me or my brat.
He looks at me straight and steady. “Because you’re the answer I’ve been seeking for the last ten months.”
Does he really expect me to believe all this amnesia shit? And, if I do, what does that even mean? He doesn’t remember meeting me. He doesn’t remember loving me. He doesn’t remember creating Anna. He doesn’t remember me whereas I never forgot him. I had to repaint every room in this house so that I could erase the image of him in it. If I could’ve afforded to move, I would have.
Instead, I lived here and cried here and needed here…alone. I was scared he was dead for a while. I had to seek out the help of the scariest man in town to find Jack, and when I did, all I received was cold rejection.
I shake my head furiously. “I’m in a very emotional state right now so don’t fuck around with me. I don’t have the energy for it. I’m confused and hurt and frustrated and scared. You weren’t around during my pregnancy. You weren’t around for the birth, which was hard as shit. But suddenly you show up and you want to be Anna’s dad? I just can’t handle it all.”
The muscle in his jaw jumps. “I swear to you on everything I own and my mother’s life that if I hadn’t had that accident, I would’ve been with you this entire time. I’m not here to take Anna away from you. I’m here to rebuild what we’ve lost. I’m not leaving you or Anna ever again.”