My heart sank, and alarm bells went off in my head. When he reached out to brush her hair back, I saw red.

I bolted from the car, yelling, “Don’t touch her!” The man backed up, and as I got closer, my breath caught.

It was her father—my ex-boyfriend who disappeared when I told him I was pregnant.

My daughter clung to me as he mumbled something about wanting to “make things right.” Furious, I told him he had no place in her life after abandoning us, and we left.