Mason had finally reached the acceptance stage. He had fought with Mary so hard on this, but she wouldn’t budge an inch, had almost been frantic to get away from him. He hadn’t understood at first. They did love each other, after all. She didn’t deny it every time he brought it up. It had actually made her burst into tears as she nodded her agreement with him. But when he said that she didn’t have to leave him, her expression had just hardened and she had continued packing.

He was standing with his daughter now, feeling an intense sorrow he didn’t think would ever go away. They were going to be in a whole different state. His work was too demanding for him to be able to travel and visit. When he had asked Mary if she would bring Samantha to him every now and again, her lips had thinned and she had merely shaken her head. He stifled a sigh as he leaned down to give his little girl a big hug. He looked into her blue eyes, the same blue eyes he had, and saw that confusion and sadness filled them. He would have to ignore his own pain and try to make this as easy for her as he could.

“You and Mommy are going to have a great adventure together.” he said with forced enthusiasm. ”You will have so much fun that you won’t even miss me.”

Samantha shook her head, her blond curls swaying. “But of course I’ll miss you, daddy. I always miss you when you go on your trips, and I’ll miss you while I’m on my own trip, too,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone that made her sound a lot older than six.

Mary was carrying two suitcases down the stairs. “Daddy will write to us, sweet pea. Won’t it be fun to get letters from him in the mail?”

Mason could not stop the bitter glare from his face at that comment. This was so unfair. His own Mary was taking away his right to be a father, and all because she didn’t approve of the project that he was assigned at work. She had worked for the government. She knew as well as he did that you couldn’t just pick and choose your own assignments. When she had asked him to quit, he had only scoffed. She also knew how much he loved his career, and he had worked very hard to get where he was today.

Mason had done things that no sane man should have to do, had seen some pretty horrific things during his career in the field and had not minded one bit when Mary had asked him to get some kind of a desk job. He had been very lucky that they gave him projects that were so interesting. So what if some of them were on the borderline of what was considered ethical? It was for the good of their country, after all. He had thought that Mary understood all of this, but once she had uncoded his log that detailed his experiments, she was outraged. Evidently, she was outraged enough to leave him and take his only child.

Mason schooled his expression into a calm mask and kneeled down to give Samantha a kiss and a lingering hug. He had to force himself to let go of his little sweetheart. “You’ll be good, won’t you sunshine?”

Samantha rolled her eyes at him. “I’m always good, daddy. You know that.”

He chuckled and patted her head lightly. “Yes, I do.” He stood and turned to Mary. “So this is goodbye then?”

Mary nodded, her eyes filling with tears, but they didn’t spill down her cheeks. She guided Samantha out the front door and was just about to close it when she turned back to Mason. “I’ll never stop loving you, Mason,” she whispered.

With that, the love of his life was gone.

He had no more warmth to come home to. All he had now was his job. It seemed a paltry trade off. Mason cursed violently and went to get some brandy. No, life was not fair at all.

Categories : Samantha's Past