Page 281 - It Ends with Us

“Wha t if . . .” My voice brea ks. “Wha t if she came to you and said,

‘My hu sban d tried to rap e me, Daddy . He he ld me do wn whi le I begged hi m to
stop. Bu t he swear s he ’ll never do it ag ai n. What sho uld I do , Daddy ?’ ”
He’s kissing her forehea d, over and over, tea rs spilling down hi s
face.
“Wha t would you say to her, R yle? Tel l me. I need to kno w wha t you
would say to our daught er if the man she loves with all her hea rt ev er

hu rts her.”
A sob brea ks from hi s ches t. He lea ns toward me and wraps an arm
around me. “I would beg her to lea ve hi m,” he says thro ugh hi s tea rs.
His lips pres s des pera tel y agains t my forehea d and I can feel some of
hi s tea rs as they fall ont o my cheek s. He moves hi s mouth to my ea r
and cradles both of us agains t hi m. “I would tel l her tha t she is worth
so much more. And I would beg her no t to go back, no matter ho w

much he loves her. She’s worth so much more. ”
We bec ome a sobbing mes s of tea rs and broken hea rts and
sha ttered drea ms. We ho ld ea ch other. We ho ld our daughter. And as
ha rd as thi s cho ice is, we brea k the pattern bef ore the pattern brea ks
us.
He ha nd s her back to me and wipes hi s ey es . He stand s up, still

crying . Still trying to catch hi s brea th. In the last fif teen minu tes , he
lost the love of hi s life. In the last fif teen minu tes , he bec ame a father
to a bea utiful little girl.
Tha t’s wha t fif teen minu tes can do to a pers on. It can des troy
them.
It can save them.
He point s toward the ha llway, let ting me kno w he need s to go

gather hi msel f. He’s sadder tha n I’ve ev er seen hi m as he walks
toward the door. But I kno w he’l l tha nk me for thi s one day. I kno w
the day will come when he’l l und ers tand tha t I made the right cho ice
by hi s daught er.
When the door closes behi nd hi m, I look down at her. I kno w I’m
no t giving her the life I drea med for her. A ho me where she lives with

both parent s who can love her and raise her toget her. But I don’t
want her to live like I lived . I don’t want her to see her father at hi s
worst. I don’t want her to see hi m when he loses hi s tem per with me
to the point that she no long er rec ogni zes hi m as her father. Bec ause