The ground seemed to shift beneath me. I grabbed the doorframe to steady myself. “What did she just say?”
Juliette stepped aside, gesturing for me to come in. “There’s a lot we need to discuss.”
I sank onto the couch, my mind racing. Juliette sat across from me, her eyes full of regret. “Do you remember that weekend at the lake house, six years ago?”
I nodded, memories flooding back. “Our last weekend together before we broke up.”
Juliette nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. “What I didn’t know then was that I was already pregnant.”
I stared at her, stunned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried,” she sobbed. “But you’d moved away, changed your number. I couldn’t find you. By the time I worked up the courage to reach out, years had passed, and I thought it was too late.”
I glanced at the little girl—my daughter. The realization hit me both terrifying and beautiful. “Why now?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“When I saw you through the window a few months ago, I told Heidi you were her father. I thought maybe fate had given us a second chance. But then I saw you with someone else…”
“That’s my wife, Sandy,” I said, my voice hoarse.
Juliette nodded. “I understand. I just wanted Heidi to know her father.”
I stood up, overwhelmed. “I need time to process this.”
Heidi’s small voice cut through the tension. “Daddy, are you leaving?”
Her words shattered my heart. I knelt in front of her, my voice gentle. “I’ll be back, sweetheart. I promise.”
As I walked out, Juliette called after me, “Arnie, I’m sorry. For everything.”
I couldn’t bring myself to respond.
Back home, Sandy was waiting, anxiety etched on her face. “What happened, Arnie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I collapsed into her arms, sobbing as I told her everything. About Juliette, about Heidi, and about the daughter I never knew I had.
Sandy held me tight, her voice steady. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I have a daughter, Sandy. I can’t walk away from that.”
Sandy nodded slowly. “Then we’ll figure it out. But first, we need to be sure. We should do a DNA test.”
The next day, I asked Juliette for the test. Her initial reaction was anger, but she eventually agreed. After weeks of agonizing waiting, the results confirmed what I already knew—Heidi was my daughter.
When I broke the news to Sandy, tears streamed down her face. “I love you, Arnie,” she said, holding me close. “And I’ll love her too.”
That day, we went to Juliette’s apartment, where Heidi ran into my arms, calling me “Daddy.” As I held her, I looked at Sandy. She smiled through her tears and reached out to touch Heidi’s hair.
“She’s beautiful,” Sandy whispered.
In that moment, I knew our lives had changed forever. This wasn’t how I’d imagined becoming a father, but as I waved back at Heidi from across the street later that night, I realized this was exactly where I was meant to be.
Life had a funny way of leading me back to my daughter, and I was ready to embrace that love.