I’m just going to grab some water, and I’ll be right back.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
I watched my daughter skip behind Eric toward the main tent, then she ducked inside the restaurant entrance as Eric stepped aside to meet some guests. I wasn’t even fully through the doorway when I heard a sharp voice, too loud and too angry to ignore. “No, absolutely not.
This little girl here…”
I froze because there was only one child at this wedding that voice could be aimed at. I stepped back outside slowly, my stomach tightening, and then I heard it again even clearer. “You’re NOT going to stand there.
These photos are for real families.”
Sophie’s tiny voice came next, shaky and confused. “But Daddy said I could be in the pictures…”
That’s when the mama bear in me woke up. I turned the corner and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Daddy didn’t ask you to ruin my wedding photos,” Eric’s new wife, Natalie, snapped. She was standing right in front of Sophie with her face twisted in irritation, and Sophie had stepped backward like she’d been pushed… not hard enough to knock her down, but hard enough to make a five-year-old lose her balance and feel unwanted. Natalie pointed toward the side of the tent like she was shooing away an animal.
“Go stand over there. You don’t belong in my photos. Who even brought you here?”
“I’m Daddy’s daughter,” she protested. Natalie let out a tight laugh that made my blood run cold. “You’re NOT my family!
This is MY day. I don’t want you in the middle of it. MOVE!”
Sophie looked around helplessly with tears streaming down her cheeks, trying to find her dad.
Eric was pretty far away, talking to relatives and smiling, completely oblivious to what was happening. He had no idea his new wife was destroying his daughter. Sophie turned back to Natalie, trembling.
“I didn’t mean to…”Continue reading…
