Divorce Papers in My Baby’s Gift Box? Fine—I Signed Them! Chapter 07
“Babe? I’m home.”
The living room was empty, and the curtains were half drawn.
The setting sun slanted in, lighting up Emma’s empty crib and the toys scattered across the floor.
“Sweetheart, Daddy’s home.”
The only answer Ryan got was his own echo.
“Where are they? Where did they go?”
He turned around and looked helplessly at the nanny walking out of the kitchen.
“Sir, Mrs. Whitmore left with little Emma two days ago.”
“What? Left? Where did they go? Why didn’t you stop them?”
“I called you at the time, sir, but you said you were busy and told me that if anything came up, it could wait until you got home.”
That phone call came back to him.
Ryan lowered his head and pulled up his call history.
It had been two days ago.
He remembered.
That day, he had been at the hospital, busy feeding Maddie soup while she threw a tantrum.
The nanny had called several times, and he had hung up on all of them.
He had thought I would stay home and reflect on what I had done, then obediently go to Maddie and apologize.
He had no idea that at that very moment, with my injured back and Emma still recovering from her allergic reaction in my arms, I had packed our things alone
and flown out of New York.
“Oh, and sir.”
The nanny handed Ryan a document.
“Mrs. Whitmore asked me to give this to you. She also said that for anything related to the divorce, please contact Mr. Scott, her lawyer.”
Ryan gripped those few pages, and for the first time, it was as if his mind finally cleared.
He finally understood.
When I said I wanted a divorce at Emma’s birthday party, I hadn’t said it in anger.
I had never been playing games with him.
I truly wanted to leave him.
But his attention had been completely taken over by Maddie.
So he couldn’t see my hurt. He couldn’t see my disappointment. And he couldn’t see how, time after time, he had pushed me farther away.
The sun sank inch by inch.
The living room darkened.
The home that had once been lively was now terrifyingly quiet.
Ryan clutched the divorce papers and sat alone on the couch for a very, very long time.
Unwilling to give up, he called me again and again.
But no one ever answered.
It wasn’t until a week later that he finally found Emma and me.
He had lost a lot of weight. Dark stubble shadowed his jaw, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Standing at the door, he looked at me blankly, like someone who had lost his way.
“Nora, I finally found you and our daughter.”
I looked at him without expression.
“What are you doing here? You’re not welcome.”
Ryan froze for a second.
Then he dropped to his knees.
“I’m sorry. Everything that happened recently was my fault.”
“I was an asshole. I was blind. I misunderstood you. I failed you and Emma.”
“But I truly never wanted to divorce you. I never wanted to be separated from you and our daughter.”
“Nora, can you give me one more chance? Give me a chance to make it up to you and Emma?”
I looked at him.
I looked at the face I had loved for so many years.
Once, I had thought I loved him enough to forgive him over and over again.
I had loved him so much that even when everyone said I was stupid, I still couldn’t let go.
But after everything Maddie had done, I finally understood that leaving was not as impossible as I had once believed.
“No. Emma and I can live perfectly well without you.”
“Ryan, don’t forget. You were the one who handed me the divorce papers.”
Ryan froze, as if he hadn’t expected me to reject him so cleanly.
“But Emma is still so young.”