“So, fine. I’ll be your nanny.”
His face lit up.
He thought he’d won.
“But I have one condition.”
He rubbed his hands together. “What condition?”
“It’s simple, Ethan.
My condition is this: you must start being a real father to Oliver. You need to visit three times a week, change diapers, bathe him, and feed him.
If you want me to lift a single finger for your new baby, then you have to start showing up for your first one.”
His cheerfulness evaporated like mist in the sun.
“Are you serious?” he scoffed. “That boy is basically a stranger!
Why would I do anything for him?”
“He’s your son, Ethan, the child you said you always wanted to be a father to, the son you hoped would continue your family name. He’s only a stranger because you’ve never bothered to be present for him.”
He threw his hands in the air.
“You’re being impossible, Claire!
Why do you always make things so difficult!”
He stormed off, and I shut the door, thinking I was finally free of Ethan.
But I was wrong.
A week later, I heard knocking at the front door again. It was timid this time, hesitant.
When I opened the door, Ethan was back.
However, this was not the same man who’d smugly asked me to be his nanny just seven days ago. He was unshaven, his shirt was wrinkled, and he had dark circles under his eyes.
But the biggest surprise was what he held in his arms.
It was a tiny bundle, inexpertly swaddled in a pink blanket — his daughter.
He looked utterly defeated, like a general who had lost the war and all his troops.
“Claire, I need your help.
Please… I don’t know what to do with her.” He raised his arms, holding the baby out to me.
“What are you talking about? Where’s Amber, Ethan?”
“She left.” His voice cracked. “She packed her bags this morning.
Said she was basically a single mother since I did nothing, and that she didn’t sign up for that.
She just… left me with the baby.”
What an ironic twist of fate, right?
He wanted to relax, and now he was truly alone with the consequences of his choices.
Except, since he’d brought this dilemma to my doorstep, I now had a choice to make.
I looked down at the little girl. She was beautiful, and she deserved so much better than this selfish man.
But I had to put my son first.
“I’m sorry you’re struggling, Ethan,” I said. “Your daughter deserves better than what you and Amber are putting her through, but I’m not the solution.
I have to protect Oliver and me.”
He took a step forward, his eyes pleading.
“Please, Claire.
I don’t know what I’m doing…”
I stood firm. “I can’t step back into your chaos, Ethan.
I won’t let it touch my son. You said you always wanted to be a father, Ethan, but you’ve never once stepped up to fill that role. Not for Oliver, and now, apparently, not for her either.
You wanted the title, but you never wanted the job.”
I paused, looking him right in the eye as I delivered the final, necessary blow.
“It’s time you started doing the work, Ethan.
Ask your family for help, take a parenting class, get that nanny you wanted… do whatever you have to do. That’s how parenting works.”
He exhaled harshly, nodded once as he looked down at his daughter, and walked away.
I closed the door and leaned against the wood.
My heart ached for that little girl, truly, but I knew I had done the right thing. What do you think happens next for these characters?
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