Mark continued.
“Before I met you, I was in a relationship with a woman named Denise. We were young, and things between us ended badly. She moved away before I understood how serious the situation had become.”
He paused, rubbing his palms together.
“Denise told me she didn’t want me contacting her anymore. Eventually, I believed she had moved on with her life. I never knew she was pregnant.”
I stared at him.
“And you never thought to find out?”
“I tried contacting her a few times, but she had changed her number and moved. I didn’t know where she was. I made mistakes, Allison. I’m not pretending I didn’t. But I genuinely had no idea Julia existed.”
Julia finally spoke.
“My mom told me that my dad abandoned us.”
Her voice was so quiet that I had to lean forward to hear it.
“She said he knew about me but didn’t want anything to do with me. I believed her because I didn’t know any different.”
