Just One

Chapter 1 An Unfortunate Event

Rose looked up into my eyes and smiled. Her hazel and blue eyes twinkled in almost two year old happiness.

"Moma." She spoke this in broken syllables, but she was slowly learning.

"Rosie." I pointed my finger at her when I said this. We were sitting on the suede couch in my living room. After college, I saved up enough money to buy a house in Lincolnton. My parents and sister lived less than an hour away. I knew moving back here would pose a possibility of running into Ethan, but I was trying to be careful for both Rosie and I's sake.

"Dada." Once again she used her broken syllables. However, I was surprised she knew this word. I had never referred to anyome as Dad except my own father. Suddenly, a thought formed in my mind.

"Do you want to see Dada?" I asked her this. Maybe if I showed her what her father looked like, then she would leavethe dada topic alone. Unlike what I should have done, I didn't think about what the possible consequences would be. I pulled out my laptop and searched Google for a non-grainy photo of Ethan.

In less than a minute there was a picture of Rosie's father plastered on my laptop screen. She belly laughed and clapped her chubby hands together. "Dada!" I didn't give this little girl nearly enough credit for how smart she was.

"Yeah, that's Dada." I sighed, propping my chin on my palm while my elbow bore into my leg. He sure was something to look at.

I was almost jealous of the good features that Rose inherited from Ethan. She had his eyes, his dirty blonde hair, and his easy on the eyes smile. However, it was combined with my naturally olive skin tone and muscular build. She would make a wonderful athlete one day.

Less than a week later was when I came to regret showing her that picture. We were picking up a few things from the grocery when it happened. I was comparing types of pudding and Rosie was entertaining herself by walking circles around my legs. Suddenly, I looked and noticed she was gone. I searched around the cart, to no avail, panic was setting in quick. She had obviously walked off. I began searching the isles in further panic. She couldn't have gone far without getting tired. She wasn't walking a whole bunch, just enough to get halfway around a grocery store. I was just about to call in a search party when I rounded the next isle. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. There was Rosie saying something about 'Dada' to a man bent over looking curiously at her.

"Moma!" Rosie squealed this and stomped her sandled feet over to me. "Dada!" She squeked this and pointed to the w

man who was now approaching us. As he got closer, I realized who he was. I hadn't seen him in three years and yet I knew exactly who he was.

"Ethan." I whispered his name, hoping it was just some cruel joke.

"Lillian?" Ethan's went quickly from confused to stunned back to confused again.

"Ethan..." I trailed. I didn't know what to say. 'Hey this is your baby' just didn't fit right for the occasion. The last thing I wanted was for Rose to be taken away from me.

"Is-Is she mine?" He stared down in amazement at the almost identical little girl. "I mean, she has my hair, and look at those eyes." He stopped, bending down to get a better look at his daughter.

"Yes." I muttered this, hoping he hadn't heard me. He stood back up and looked me square in the eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?!? Why did I miss the first two years of my daughter's life?!" He was extremely angry. Rose was cowering and whimpering, holding tightly to my legs. He had scared her.

"Ah, shi-oot." He noticed Rose behind my legs and caught himself before cursing. I brought Rosie around and picked her up. She hid her face in my neck. He kept his eyes gvlued to the little girl in my arms. Running his hands through his hair, making it stand on end, he dropped his hand to his thigh. Taking one last glance at Rose, then at me. "Goodbye Rose. I just can't do this right now." He patted her back and left the store. Rose and I were stunned into silence. It was just one encounter.