Twelve years after my husband, George, left me with a newborn, I received a call that he desperately needed to see our daughter. But when my girl returned from that meeting in tears, I knew my ex was up to no good.

Some people in my life have said that what I did wasn’t nice, and that I may have alienated my daughter’s chance to have a relationship with her father. But I disagree.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Twelve years ago, my then-husband George disappeared as soon as we returned from the hospital with our newborn daughter, Jennie.

He just packed his bags the next night, and I never saw him again. I couldn’t reach him, and his friends supposedly had no idea where he was. I didn’t think that was true, but I wasn’t going to push.

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With a newborn and no job, I had enough to worry about.

Over the years, he never showed any interest in reconnecting with his daughter and never called to ask how we were doing.

So, I divorced him through our lawyers and didn’t even ask for child support.

You can imagine how shocking it was when I was just going about my business and a phone call from his old number popped up.

I picked up automatically, almost expecting it to be a mistake, but it was his voice.

“Emily? It’s me! I need to see my daughter. I have terrible news!” he panted into the phone.

“Wh-what?” I stuttered but recovered quickly. “George! It’s been 12 years! You think you can just see Jennie?”

“Emily! I have no time to debate this. I need to see my girl. I’m sick. It’s terminal,” he explained, and his voice even got choked up.

I didn’t expect this at all. My first instinct was… suspicion. “Are you lying to me?” I asked, not quite angry, but very serious.

“NO! How can you think that of me, Em?” George asked, offended.

“You left me,” I retorted, and my voice turned to ice. “Left me without a single word or a way to reach you. But you also left her! I don’t know what to think of you! Because you definitely weren’t the man I thought I’d married!”

“Please!” he wailed, and I heard sniffles. “Please, I’m not asking for much. I just want to meet her, make my amends, and go in peace.”

I closed my eyes and stopped myself from yelling some more. I had so many years of resentment built up, but would it do any good to release all that anger then?

Would it be better for my daughter if I just allowed her to see the father she has always wanted to meet?

I opened my eyes, looked up at the ceiling as if asking for divine help, and sighed. “Fine, I’ll let you meet her,” I said.

***

“I’ll be right outside if you need anything, okay?” I touched Jennie’s cheek. We were in my car right outside a coffee shop near our home.

We had agreed she would meet George there. I wanted to go inside, but I also thought it would be too hard to see him and not yell… or cry… or hit him for abandoning us.

So, I would let Jennie go in alone and wait for her here.

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” Jennie smiled, but I saw the uncertainty in her eyes. She was excited to meet her dad for the first time, but I knew she also wondered why he left us and why he never wanted to be her father.

Still, for a 12-year-old, my daughter was way stronger than me. She was more mature than I was at her age, and I knew she could handle herself.

I waved as she got out of the car and waited. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see into the shop from my parking spot, but I hoped everything would be alright.

I knew I had to be patient because they needed time to talk about everything, and George had to reveal the news of his disease, whatever it was.

Could it be cancer? Something else? Maybe, I should’ve asked to record that for Jennie’s medical history…

I didn’t realize I had dozed off until Jennie opened the door, and I jumped in my seat. But that was not why my eyes got wide. Jennie was bawling her eyes out.

She reached her whole body across the car shift and wrapped her arms tightly around me. My neck got wet immediately.

“Jennie!” I breathed, holding her closer. “What happened? Why are you crying? Did he say something?”

“Mom! He’s dying!” she cried, and my eyes watered at her pain. But her next words made me frown. “But I can’t do what he’s asking!”

“Honey, wait,” I said and pulled her face back, holding it gently with my hands. I wiped her tears as I asked, “What can’t you do? What did he ask you?”

Jennie swallowed and pulled back from me. She didn’t respond. Instead, she looked out the windshield and dried the rest of her face.

“Jennie, please tell me,” I coaxed. “You’re worrying me.”

“He needs money for his treatment. I don’t know what he needs exactly. But he asked me to steal money from you,” she finally revealed slowly. “He said it was the only way for him to live.”

I saw red. I even heard the “Kill Bill” soundtrack in my head.

“He –” I stopped and cleared my throat. “He asked you for money?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Jennie said, and her face finally turned back to me. “But how can I do that? I saw how hard it was for a long time. I saw you with your phone, counting everything you bought, every dollar you spent.”

Oh, God! That was the last thing I wanted her to see! But Jennie continued.

“It’s different now. You don’t worry about every penny anymore, and I know it’s because of your new job,” she stopped and looked at the fidgeting fingers in her lap. “But even if I know stealing some money from you won’t affect us, I can’t lie to you. Not even for my own dad.”

The red hue in my vision had yet to clear, but my mind eased because I was so proud of my daughter! I don’t know how, but I’d raised the most beautiful soul!

So, I grabbed her and wrapped her in my arms again. “Jennie, don’t you worry. I’m going to make some calls and see what your father needs,” I said, kissing her head.

“Really?”

“Really,” I reassured her. “Everything will be okay.”

For us, anyway…

***

“Emily! It’s been such a long time. Listen, I still don’t know –”

“Save it, Frank!” I snapped into my phone.

I was back at home. Jennie was in her room, and I was locked in the bathroom. Frank was my ex-husband’s best friend, and the person I knew had always lied to me about George’s whereabouts.

“Tell me right now what disease George has!” I demanded coldly.

“What do you mean? I haven’t seen George since –”

“I said save your lies, Frank! I know you’re still friends, and you need to tell me right now if he has a disease or not,” I screamed. “I warn you not to lie to me. This is about my daughter’s life. Be a decent man for once, Frank.”

Frank stayed silent for a second before he spoke. “Look, I don’t know anything about a disease,” he said carefully. “I know he’s around, but I –”

That was enough information for me. I clicked end on the call and paced my bathroom with my hands on my waist.

Frank not knowing about any disease was enough confirmation that George was lying. He was just after money, and using Jennie to do it… the scumbag!

So, I made a plan.

***

“These are the pills your father needs. They were expensive, but this should be enough for a while,” I said to Jennie as we exited the local CVS.

I hated myself for lying to her, but how could I tell her her father was an even bigger scumbag than I realized?

“Will this really cure him?” she asked, smiling.

“I’m sure they will,” I said, and we got in the car.

Later that night, Jennie called her father to arrange another coffee shop meeting. I took her the next morning myself and parked in the same spot.

“Wait, Jennie,” I said right as she opened the car door. “Give this to your father along with the pills.”

I handed her a letter, and she nodded.

As my cheerful, bright daughter practically skipped into the coffee place, I thought about what I had written to her father:

“I know your illness is fake. You traumatized our kid. If you don’t want me to sue you for not paying child support all these years, you will grab the pills and even take one in front of her. Tell Jennie that those are enough. Apologize for scaring her! You better be on your best behavior and never contact my daughter again!”

I also giggled internally… because the pills I bought…

… were laxatives. Strong ones.

An hour later, Jennie returned to the car, still smiling brightly.

And just as I expected, George disappeared again. I hoped he was trapped in some bathroom for hours… hell, forever!

When I told some of my friends, they didn’t think I did the right thing, especially because I lied to Jennie.

But I stand by my actions, and I know I’ll have to tell Jennie the whole truth someday. But for now, all I wanted was to protect her. Was that so wrong?