He Called Divorce Papers A Joke I Called It Done Chapter 07

He Called Divorce Papers A Joke I Called It Done Chapter 07

“Elena? I’m home.”

Nothing. The living room was still, curtains half-drawn, the last of the daylight cutting in at a slant.

Sunset fell across Mia’s empty crib, across her toys still scattered on the floor.

“Baby girl? Daddy’s home.”

His voice bounced back at him off the walls. Nothing else.

“Hello? Where is everyone?”

He turned. The nanny was standing in the kitchen doorway, drying her hands. “Mr. Hayes? Elena left with the baby two days ago.”

“What?” The word barely came out. “Left? Where did they go? Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I tried calling you. Multiple times. You told me you were busy and to handle it myself until you were home.”

Phone calls. Declan pulled up his call history. There they were — two days ago.

It all came rushing back. That day. He’d been at the hospital, spoon-feeding Harper soup while she pouted.

The nanny had called three, four times. He’d dismissed every one.

He’d assumed I’d cool off, come to my senses, and crawl back to apologize.

He didn’t know what I’d been doing while he was coddling Harper. I was dragging a suitcase through an airport with a shattered back and a baby who’d just gotten out of the hospital. I flew back to my family.

“Oh — one more thing.” The nanny held out an envelope. “Elena asked me to leave this for you. She said to contact her lawyer, Mr. Sterling, for the divorce.”

Declan held the papers. His hands were shaking. For the first time in weeks, his head cleared.

He finally understood. Every time I’d said the word ‘divorce,’ I hadn’t been bluffing. I’d meant it. I was done.

He’d been so consumed by Harper that he couldn’t see what was right in front of him — his wife falling apart, one day at a time.

The sun slipped below the window, and the room went dark around him. The house that used to be full of noise — Mia babbling, toys clattering, my voice calling from the kitchen — was dead silent.

He sat on the couch with the divorce papers in his lap and called my number. Again. And again. Every call went straight to voicemail.

It took him a week to find us.

He was thinner. Unshaven, eyes bloodshot. He stood in my doorway looking like he hadn’t slept in days.

“Elena.” His voice cracked. “I finally found you.”

I looked at him. Gave him nothing.

“You shouldn’t be here, Declan. Go home.”

He sank to his knees right there in the doorway, his confident facade completely shattered.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong — about everything.”

“I was selfish. I was blind. I let you down. I let our daughter down.”

“I never wanted to lose you. Either of you. I never wanted this.”

“Just give me one more chance, Elena. One chance to fix this.”

I looked at him — really looked. At the face I’d loved for years. There was a time I thought loving him meant forgiving him over and over.

I’d loved him so much I let the whole world call me pathetic rather than walk away. But the distance had given me something I’d never had before. Clarity.

Leaving Declan wasn’t the end of the world. It was the beginning of mine.

“No.”

“I don’t need you, Declan. Mia and I are doing perfectly fine without you.”

“And let’s not forget — you’re the one who served me those divorce papers at our daughter’s birthday.”

His mouth opened. Closed. He hadn’t expected a no.

“But she’s so young.” His eyes welled up. “You’re really going to make her grow up without a father?”