I Was Dumped Mid-Date For Being ‘Damaged Goods’ — Then A 4-Year-Old Asked Me An Impossible Question
Part 2
“Do you have kids?” Lily asked quietly.
I felt my throat instantly tighten at her blunt words.
It was the one single question I had been desperately avoiding for three agonizing years.
It was the question that consistently hurt the absolute most to answer truthfully.
“No, sweetheart,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the restaurant’s soft background music.
“I don’t.”
“Do you want kids?” she pressed further, her blue eyes wide and searching.
“I did once,” I answered honestly, unable to lie to that innocent face.
“I always thought I would, but things just didn’t work out that way for me.”
Lily nodded slowly, her pigtails bobbing as if this made perfect, logical sense in her four-year-old mind.
“My daddy is lonely, too,” she announced loudly to the entire table.
“I can tell because sometimes he looks really, really sad when he thinks I’m not looking at him.”
“And I don’t have a mommy anymore.”
“That makes me incredibly sad sometimes, even though Daddy tries really, really hard to make me happy.”
“Lily, honey,” Tyler desperately interrupted, his handsome face clearly mortified.
But Lily was absolutely not finished with her train of thought.
With the brutal, unshakeable honesty of childhood, she looked directly into my tear-filled eyes.
“Can you be my new mom?”
The entire restaurant seemed to go completely, deafeningly silent around us.
Brenda’s hand instantly flew up to tightly cover her mouth in sheer shock.
Craig looked like he was desperately trying his hardest not to burst into a massive smile.
Tyler’s face had gone a deep, mortified shade of crimson red.
And I vividly felt hot, heavy tears streaming quickly down my own flushed cheeks before I could even attempt to stop them.
I slowly slid out of my comfortable chair and gently knelt down right beside Lily.
I carefully brought myself perfectly to eye level with this truly extraordinary, perceptive little girl.
“Oh, sweetheart,” I murmured softly, gently brushing a stray lock of blonde hair from her forehead.
“Being someone’s mom is a very, very special and important thing.”
“It’s just not something that happens quickly.”
“But you’re really nice,” Lily argued passionately, as if this simple, undeniable fact settled absolutely everything.
“And you’re really sad, just like Daddy is.”
“Which clearly means you could easily make each other happy again.”
“And you work with sick kids, so you already know exactly how to be a great mom.”
“It perfectly makes sense.”
I couldn’t help but let out a watery laugh through my heavy tears at her remarkably flawless logic.
“You are absolutely right that it makes sense,” I agreed gently.
“But your daddy and I only just met tonight.”
“We’re basically strangers.”
“Then be not strangers first,” Lily stated simply, putting her tiny hands on her velvet-clad hips.
“That’s exactly what Daddy always says about making new friends.”
“First you’re strangers, then you talk a lot, then you’re best friends.”
Tyler had finally recovered enough from his massive shock to properly speak.
“I am so, so incredibly sorry,” he groaned deeply, exhaustedly running a large hand through his thick hair.
“Lily, you can’t just ask random, nice people to be your mother.”
“Why not?” she challenged him instantly, her blue eyes flashing defensively.
“You’re always saying I should ask bravely for exactly what I need.”
“I really need a mom.”
“She really needs a family.”
“It’s absolutely perfect.”
She stumbled slightly over the big words, but she bravely delivered her entire speech with complete, unwavering conviction.
I looked slowly up at Tyler then.
I saw my own sheer, overwhelming astonishment beautifully reflected back at me in his dark, expressive eyes.
But it was mixed deeply with something entirely different and profoundly terrifying.
It was genuine hope, or maybe the quiet, fragile possibility of a brand new future.
I had spent three exhausting years firmly convinced I was completely broken and totally unlovable.
But looking into this remarkable little girl’s hopeful eyes, and feeling the intense warmth radiating from her father’s steady gaze, could I truly risk my heavily guarded heart all over again?
