To A Good Father

Of all the questions she'd feared he might ask, this one had never crossed her mind, and she briefly considered trying to come up with an inspired lie to throw him off the scent. Since she'd done such a good job of fooling him into thinking she'd found some other man to take his place, why not continue with the charade? But suddenly she'd had enough of the deceit and the subterfuge. She'd tell him the truth, or at least an edited version of it, and if he persisted in leaping to all the wrong conclusions, that was hardly her problem. "Because I'm not married," she said. "Why not?"

"I rushed into a relationship with the wrong man, we went our separate ways and I'm bringing up my baby alone. Don't look so disapproving. It was my choice, and hardly unique in today's world. Hundreds of women make the same decision every day."

"You're not one of those women, Lara," he said. "You should have held out for the husband you always wanted."

"Well