A Bit Of Stardust..

It wasn't going to be easy, she knew....but somehow she had to confront him. She took a deep breath and walked into the room.

He was sitting on the sofa watching a soccer match on the television. Those were his best times of the day when he enjoyed a live soccer match. She stood there behind him, thinking how she was going to break the news to him.What did he do, to deserve such an unworthy daughter like me?, she thought. But she also knew that however harsh it maybe, she had to confront him. She owed it to him.

She slowly walked up to face him, blocking his vision of the television.

"What is the matter, dear?", he asked. He sensed something was wrong with his daughter. She answered to confirm him.

"Dad...dad...I need to tell you something....something  very important."Her lips trembled.

"Sure, sweetie. What is it?" he asked.

"Dad, I'm....I'm...pregnant.", she stammered and broke down.

"Wha...what did you say?"Now it was his time to stammer. He couldn't believe his voice, it was barely audible. But deep in his heart, he knew that he heard her right. But he wished  it wasn't.

He wished he could provide her with a second  mother to share all her anxieties and problems. Because her own mother, his wife,  whom he had loved the most after his mom, had left her alone with him fifteen years back. She had been motherless for fifteen years. Fifteen years of being everything for her- father and mother both.

Suddenly a fear engulfed him. His wife had left them for the same reason- pregnant with another's baby. What if his daughter, the only constant in his life should leave him too? How to live without her?

In the beginning, he felt like asking her how dared she do this to him, scolding her, thrashing her, but he decided against it. Maybe, there was still a chance. Maybe, he could make her abort it.

"How long have you been keeping this from me?"  he asked.

"Three months,"she sobbed.

"What did he say?"

"He asked me to abort it. He said that he's not ready to become a father."She was still sobbing.

"What do you want?", he asked and surprised himself. What did it matter what she thought? She must  abort it. No way could he let her do otherwise.

"Dad. I don't want to abort the baby. I don't want to kill the thing that I created", she answered. 

"But you have the whole of your life after you!" and suddenly, his voice was loud."You have your future planned! You can't waste it by having a baby!"

She broke down again. Seeing her cry made him want to rush to her side, wipe her tears, hold her in his arms and rock her until she could fall asleep. But he reminding himself of what she had done to him, kept him from comforting her. He crossed his arms and looked away in the fear that he too might start crying soon. He didn't want her to see that she was his weakest point.

Unexpectedly, she stood facing him and looked right into his eyes.

"Could you afford to do the same thing dad, if it would have been your baby?", she demanded, "Could you afford to kill your own creation?"

And then, like a bolt from the blue,he realised he loved her baby as much as he loved her. It was only the society's expectations that he was afraid of. What did that little life inside her do, to deserve to be killed? And what he said next was something that he didn't expect, "Okay. I'll take you for an ultrasound imaging tonight."

The way she looked at him, it was obvious that she couldn't believe what he said. He simply nodded.

As the doctors scanned the image, the beating of the little heart did it all. He realised that however bad the truth might be, he had to face it. Because abortion is a lie. He can't kill the creation of someone he himself created. He couldn't stop a beating heart. He didn't have the right to.

And as the years rolled by, he also realised that allowing her to conceive the baby was the right decision. He didn't know he could love someone so much as much as he loved'him'--- more than his mom, his wife and his daughter. Society was always there to criticise. But what 'he ' gave, was much more than the society could ever give. 

He gave him a new life. A new constant.