Innocent

" a night out "

Savannah

I watched Harleigh as she ate her plate of eggs while watching her morning cartoons. I sat at the table on my laptop, answering a few business emails. Since I was taking a break from traveling, I was focusing my attention on other things that went towards my brand.

While I was finishing up my response to an email, the doorbell echoed throughout the house. Harleigh put a handful of eggs in her mouth and pointed towards the door. I ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead, walking towards the front door. I answered and squealed in delight seeing it was Regina and Sarah. I hugged my baby sister tightly, rocking her from side to side. I shared a tight embrace with Regina and let them both in.

"Oh my gosh!" Sarah squealed walking into the kitchen. "I haven't seen Harleigh since she was a small baby, now she's a big girl."

"I know right." I looked down at my baby girl cheesing up at us with pieces of eggs all over her mouth. "Time is just flying by."

"She'll be one before we know it." Regina sighed. "Anyways, I have a surprise for you."

"Oh lord." I raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I brought your father with us today." She smiled.

My small smile dropped and I immediately felt anger wash over me. I hadn't spoken to this man since the day I had the ultrasound, and that was almost a year ago. I didn't want to see him or hear anything he had to say. Regina looked at me with a look that said, "just hear him out". Feeling the tension rise in the room, Sarah wiped Harleigh's face off and took her in the living room. Regina went to the door and called for my dad to get out of the car and come inside. I waited in the kitchen, impatiently tapping my nails against the countertop.

Regina walked in with my dad behind her, a scowl on his face. After all these months, he had the nerve to still be mad. She looked from him to me and sighed. This relationship was broken and there was no fixing it.All this time that had passed, I would've expected for him to have been proud of me. But no, he was still mad about me getting pregnant.

"Sean." She nudged him. "That is your daughter standing over there. You need to get over this stupid grudge you're holding and realize that your daughter is a successful woman, raising her child in the best way she can."

"As far as I'm concerned, I only have one daughter." He shrugged. "And her name is Sarah."

"Look, you're in my house." I snapped. "If you're just gonna stand there and disrespect me, you can just leave. I been doing just fine without a father in my life this long, and I'll be just fine without you."

Before he could turn to leave, Regina grabbed his arm stopping him. He immediately snatched his arm away and continued towards the door. She called after him but once the door slammed shut, she came back into the kitchen with a defeated look on her face. I knew it hurt her to see her husband disrespecting me like that. I hate that she even tried to fix things between us. We went into the living room where Sarah was letting Harleigh climb all over her like she was a jungle gym. Harleigh was laying over Sarah's shoulder, her diaper all in Sarah's face.

"She's so disrespectful." I laughed, picking her up. "Why are you doing your auntie like that?"

"She wasn't even bothering me." Sarah shrugged.