Page 57 of Mr. Principal

“You wouldn’t—”

“Try me.” My voice was cold, my eyes were too. I guess he saw the look on my face because he instantly removed his hand.

“I’m going to take you to court. And you know what, Dana? I’m going to win. Look at you and look at me. I was being nice to you giving you 50/50 custody, but no more mister nice guy. You don’t deserve it. I’m not going to have you filling my daughter’s head with lies like you filled my wife’s.”

“For the last time, I had nothing to do with Becca leaving you.” My voice was shaky. “But I don’t blame her. I wish I’d come to my senses and done the same.”

“I wish you had too. If it weren’t for Meredith, I would easily chalk our marriage up to be the worst decision of my life.”

My face flushed with anger and I growled, “Funny. I’m sure Becca would say the same thing about you.”

It was his turn to turn red. He seemed ready to blow a gasket. But then Meredith peeked out the door from around me and looked up at Tom. “Daddy, what are you doing here? And why are you yelling at Mom?”

He took a step back and composed himself. “I just missed you, sweetheart, that’s all. I just wanted to check to make sure you were okay. I’ll come get you tomorrow, okay? We’ll go to the zoo.”

I looked down at her. “Go on back to bed. I need to speak to your father in private.”

She looked between the two of us and then made her way back to her bedroom. I didn’t want to risk her overhearing us, so I stepped out of my drafty house in my bathrobe and faced my ex.

“I don’t know what you think I told Becca but I assure you her decision to leave you was all hers. I’ve had nothing to do with it. Becca loves Meredith and it tore her up to make the decision to leave her.”

Tom’s eyes narrowed. “So you did talk to her about this?”

“Only with regards to Meredith—”

“That’s all I needed to know. I’ll see you in court.”

He didn’t say another word. He just walked away. My heart was racing, my palms were damp, and I was already tearing up. I took a deep breath and wiped away the tear that had escaped. I was strong. I wouldn’t let him threaten me, I told myself and then tried to muster some composure before I went back inside where I knew Meredith would be sitting eagerly waiting for me.

I opened the door, locked it behind me and then looked into my living room. To my surprise, Meredith wasn’t there.

She was in her room. I thought she went back to sleep, but then I could see her eyes were open and she was staring blankly at the ceiling.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Okay, if you want to talk—”

“Is Daddy going to take me away from you because Becca left?”

“No, honey, no,” I said, crossing over and sitting down next to her on the bed. I took her in my arms and she seemed to be shaking.

I realized then that she was holding back tears. “Daddy is just angry. He’ll be fine. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“I don’t want him to take me away from you,” she said, her voice catching on a sob. And just like that, she started to cry, hard. Her tears ran freely, and I held her tighter and didn’t know I was crying too until my tears dampened her hair.

I swiped at my tears and made her turn around and face me. “That’s not going to happen. Do you hear me? I’m not going to let your daddy take you away from me. I’m still going to see you every Wednesday and every other weekend.”

She didn’t look convinced. “Daddy’s rich and powerful… we’re kind of poor and well, kind of poor—”

It saddened me that she already knew how this world worked.

“I’ll use every drop of money I have to be sure it never comes to that. I promise you, Meredith, your daddy will not take you away from me. Not in a million years.”

She seemed reassured then and laid her head on my chest. I rocked her back and forth like I’d done when she was a toddler and she drifted back to sleep.

I’d spoke with absolute certainty but now I was unsure. Was Tom bluffing or was he really going to try to ruin my life over a broken marriage that was entirely his fault?