The Deer Walks Free

My son—whom I carried for ten months—said, "Auntie looks more like my real mom." During a school sports day, I fell and scraped my knee, but he dragged me to the finish line anyway. When he ran crying into my step-sister's arms, my husband shot me a cold look. "How do you even take care of a child?" I said nothing. That night, I signed the divorce papers and a waiver of custody. Then I packed my things and took only my mother's keepsake. Later, my ex found me and begged me to come back. "Noah is crying for his mom." I pushed his hand away. "You've got the wrong person. My step-sister is his mom now."