Chapter 50

• "Obviously I thought it was a mistake. It was the first thing I thought and told the doctor. When he told me that his mother’s name was Juliane, I started having a tachycardia. I felt like the whole floor was opening and swallowing me. As soon as I recovered, I asked to see Juliane. And it was her. Juliane had suffered a car accident and before going out, gave my phone to the doctors, saying that I was the father of the daughter she was pregnant. I wasn’t able to find any of her relatives and at her wake she only had the people she worked with. After a doctor’s orientation, a DNA test was done and found out what I already imagined. That baby, you, was really my daughter.
• After a few days and many exams, you were allowed to be taken home. And I took it. In the face and in the courage. For some unknown reason, Leah was sober that day. She looked down at me and joked, asking where I had taken that child. When I told her and she saw that I wasn’t kidding, Leah wanted to kill me. Literally. She ran after me with a knife and only because of you, because of the helpless baby in my arms, that she gave up that madness. So we sat down and talked about what we would do from then on. Although being a mother was never Leah’s dream, she set out to be the best mother possible."
• "For a few years it even happened." Samuel takes a deep breath. "I really thought she would never use drugs again. Then one day I came home from work and our neighbor...”