Page 76 of My Heart's Doctor

When it was time to say goodbye, I went to get Aurora’s bag with her things, but we encountered a complicated and uncomfortable situation. The little girl hugged me and didn’t want to leave.

“Aurora, we need to go back home, but Devon will come visit you or you can come whenever you want. Right, Devon?”

“Of course,” I responded.

“Nooo, want withDivon.”

“Princess, you have to go to your house with your daddy. He missed you a lot and wants to play with you.”

“And we can go to the park or to the beach,” William pointed out.

“But want go withDivon.”

I noticed William looking at me as if asking for help.

“Aurora, your daddy wants to be with you because he missed you so much. He had to be away from you for work and now he wants to be with you. In fact, he came early today to pick you up because he couldn’t be without you anymore. Besides, now I have to go to work, but I promise we’ll see each other another day and we can talk on the phone as many times as you want,” I said, trying to convince her.

She continued hugging me tightly and had started to cry. William looked at me not knowing what to do, and I felt touched by Aurora’s affection, but with each passing second more uncomfortable for him.

“My love, Devon has to go to work. I promise I’ll bring you another day and you can spend time with her.”

“Nooo, I want to stay here.”

“Let’s do something,” he said, and she looked at him attentively, but without letting go of me, “now we’ll go home because Devon has things to do, but later we’ll come visit her and the three of us will go out for dinner.”

I looked at him in astonishment. That was the complete opposite of what he had told me before. We couldn’t keeppresenting ourselves to Aurora as if we were a family because that would definitely confuse her. Since I noticed that Aurora was calming down, I didn’t say anything, neither confirming nor denying, but I was convinced it was better not to accept the outing he had proposed.

“Can we go home now?” he asked, stretching his arms toward her.

“Go with daddy,” I said, and placed her in her father’s arms while she looked at me with eyes glazed with tears. “Do you need help with the bag?”

“No, thank you. And thank you, truly, for everything you did for my daughter… and for me. If you hadn’t helped me, I would have had to miss some meetings that were very important for the company.”

“It was a real pleasure sharing these days with Aurora.”

“Will I see you later?” he asked, looking at me eagerly.

“We’ll talk. Okay?”

He nodded and left my apartment with Aurora in one arm and the bag in the other. Aurora kept looking at me sadly, and I couldn’t bear to see her like that. I walked them to the elevator, and as the doors were closing, William’s eyes didn’t leave mine, and I could hear Aurora’s little voice calling me.

“Divon,Divon.”

I returned to my apartment feeling completely deflated. These past few days my home had felt lively with Aurora’s laughter and little shouts, and the previous night had been wonderful with William sleeping beside me. Now I was returning to the unmistakable solitude that was my reality.

Chapter 15

“There are certain things in life that were made to be experienced, not explained. Love is one of them.”

—Paulo Coelho

William

She looked at me as if I were a hallucination, and I wasted no time approaching her to whisper in her ear:

“I couldn’t stand waiting any longer to come back.”

I said it for Aurora, but also for her, and I hoped she understood the meaning of my words. I couldn’t bear another day without having her again and without knowing if she could be mine. I wanted Devon to be my woman and I wanted to be the only one who had the right to be with her.