I am not her - Photography (10.)

"You had a beautiful daughter," he spoke and finally looked at Anna, when their eyes met her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat. At that moment she felt like she understood without words, but he had to say something.

"Why didn't you let me know?" With that, he set the photo down in its place and turned to face Anna.

"And what did you think I was supposed to tell you!" Anna's voice was razor sharp. So he's still asking. She herself didn't know where it was coming from all of a sudden, for a minute ago she didn't think she'd uttered a sound.

"Look, Anna, I know I wasn't exactly fair that time. I'm so sorry." He walked slowly towards her, adding as he did so. A sentence that brought out the emotion of rage in Anna. "But we were both young and I wasn't ready for it."

"And you think I am?!" She blurted out, "I was terrified," she added, squeezing the cane harder. At the same time, she felt herself starting to shake.

"Anna, I..."

"No. Now listen to me carefully!" Michael's footsteps came to an abrupt halt and he stood as if scalded. Anna saw the shock in his blue eyes.

"You lost the right to my daughter the day you yelled at me that she wasn't yours! So don't give me that pity party!"

She could feel the tears starting to sting her eyes. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Preferably away from London, it was a bloody mistake to come back here.

Though her thoughts wanted to run, her body remained standing as if nailed down. She looked away and her eyes focused on the photo that was pinned to the wall. The photo was of her young daughter wrapped in a swaddle. She was still in the maternity ward when she took this picture. "You know," she spoke again without stopping to look at her child. "When our daughter was placed in my arms, I felt happy and for perhaps the first time since that night, I thanked you and fate for the beautiful gift you gave me and even at that moment, I regretted not having you there with me." Anna felt tears streaming down her face that could not be stopped, and if she had looked for just a moment at the man standing a few feet away from her, she would have realized that he was in the same boat. "I promised myself and her that I would in no way let her feel your absence, and I stuck to that until..." She paused for a small moment to catch her breath. "Before she started asking questions about you. At first, I planned to tell her you were dead, but I couldn't. Instead, I explained to her that you'd come back to us one day."

She tore her gaze away from the picture while wiping away tears with the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry," she heard a croaky voice say. Her head shot in his direction at that moment. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Michael had such sorrow on his face that it hurt her alone.

"You probably already know the rest of the story from Mel," she spoke with a tight throat and a lump in her throat.

They both stood there in silence for some time, wondering what they could do for the other to ease his pain.

"I should start doing something," Anna huffed when the silence was too long for her. She took a step back when suddenly Michael's hand caught hers and with a jerk he pulled her to him.