The Unwanted Wife's Return (Ex-Husband Wants Me Back) novel Chapter 361

A Place Beside Us 

MARY’S POV: 

The café door swung shut behind me, and I stood on the sidewalk for a long moment, letting the cold air wash over my face. 

The conversation with Hotch had not gone the way I expected. 

He had been kind, warm, the same man I remembered from law school. But the weight of my situation had pressed down on me the entire time, making it hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to say the words I had come to say. 

The divorce agreement was not the difficult part. I had already made peace with that. I had already accepted that my marriage was over, that the man I had loved was gone, that the life I had built was crumbling around me. 

The real question was whether Alistair would successfully allow me to take our daughter. 

I thought about Elowen’s face in the kitchen, her hopeful eyes, her small voice asking if her father could come to her school event. She loved him. Despite everything, despite his absence, despite the way he had broken promise after promise, she still loved him. 

And he loved her. I knew that. Somewhere, beneath the layers of selfishness and denial and carefully constructed fantasy, he loved his daughter. 

But love wasn’t enough. Love didn’t show up. Love didn’t keep promises. Love didn’t put a child’s needs above its own desires. 

If it came to a custody battle, Alistair would fight. He would use every resource at his disposal, every connection, every dollar. He would drag me through the courts and make me prove myself over and over again, until I was too exhausted to keep fighting. 

And then there were the shares. 

The shares that rightfully belonged to me. 

I had given Alistair everything when we first started out. My savings, my connections, my time, my energy. I had convinced my friends to invest in his company. I had spent sleepless nights helping him build his business from nothing. I had poured myself into his success, believing that his success would be our success. 

But somewhere along the way, I had been erased from the narrative. My name wasn’t on the paperwork. My contributions had been forgotten. And now, if I wanted what was mine, I would have to fight for it. 

I had been so naive. 

I had believed in love. I had believed in partnership. I had believed that if I gave everything I had to someone, they would give back to me in return. 

What I hadn’t told her was that I had also reached out to Alistair. I had sent him a message, simple and direct, asking if he would come. I had told him that it would mean the world to his daughter. I had told him that she was asking for him, that she was hoping, that she was still young enough to believe in second chances. 

He hadn’t responded. 

I wasn’t surprised. I had stopped being surprised a long time ago. 

The school gymnasium was buzzing with activity when we arrived. Parents and children filled the space, their voices echoing off the high ceilings. Elowen’s hand was warm in mine, her fingers wrapped tightly around my palm. 

“Mommy, look!” She pointed at a row of colorful balloons. “They have a balloon arch!” 

I smiled. “I see it, baby.” 

I guided her toward the registration table, my eyes scanning the crowd out of habit. The other parents were smiling, chatting, their lives ordinary and intact. I felt a pang of something, envy, maybe, or grief, but I pushed it down. 

Then I saw him.