I Believe in Santa

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"I want to change the custody arrangements

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"I want to change the custody arrangements. I've submitted a petition to the court."

And the world stops. Becca can't breathe, the world is foggy. "What petition?"

"I'm waiving my rights, as her father."

Her head spins. What the hell was this man saying? After everything, all she can say is, "What?"

One month earlier...

"Evans, can I have a moment?"

"What do you want Brady? I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm just a supervisor."

Tom looked at his feet. "I know. I just have a question." He took a breath. "Do you love her?"

"Excuse me?"

"Charlotte. Do you love her?"

"I love her as if she was my own."

"Ok, good. Please don't tell Becca what I'm about to tell you. I want to tell her myself."

"Tell her what? I'm not playing games with my family Brady."

"I know that. And I'm sorry for everything that I've put you guys through. But watching you with her, with your little girl, I realized that I missed that."

Chris's mouth popped open at Tom's declaration of "your little girl." But Tom continued. "I spoke to my dad who gently reminded me that I had every opportunity to accept her when she was a baby but I was too far into my own shit to realize I missed it. I missed the love I have with my boys with her."

"Tom, I..."

"Look Chris, I'm gonna start the process to terminate my parental rights. I want you to adopt Charlie. You're her dad. She's your girl. I see that."

"Are you sure Tom? Because Charlie, she's resilient. She's tenacious and she'll give you a chance."

"I just want to visit with her now. I'll be Uncle Tom or Cousin Brady or whatever. But I'm not her dad." Chris could see the sparkle of water in Tom's eyes. "I'm sorry Chris. I'm so fucking sorry to have put Becca through all of this. I just... I just wanted the chance to have her again, but I was so wrong."

Chris sighed, hands on hips and head bowed. He looked at Tom. "You don't want me to tell Becca?"

"No, this is all my fault. I need to tell her but maybe, just, can you keep doing the visitation for now until I get everything done? My lawyer says he should have it done in about a month so my last visit with her would be around Christmas."

** Present day

"I petitioned to have my parental rights revoked and left a recommendation for Chris."

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