“I’m not letting Paige spend her first year as a mother being told she has to carry everything alone,” he said. “And I’m not letting our child grow up hearing fathers are optional.”
Patricia flushed. “So, you’re keeping me from my grandchild?”
“I’m telling you where the line is,” Lucas said. “Respect both parents, or don’t bring that attitude into our home. You threatened this man’s home, Patricia. Do you see how wrong that is?”
Paige wiped her cheek. “Mom, if something happened to me, I’d pray Lucas fought this hard for our baby.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not?” Paige asked. “He lost his wife. You knew it, and you used it against him.”
Patricia pointed at me. “He had no right.”
“I had no good option,” I said. “There’s a difference.”
The security guard arrived with a mall manager.
Patricia raised her chin. “This man entered the women’s restroom.”
I shifted Lily higher. “Because the men’s room had no table, the family restroom in this wing was closed, and the East Wing was 15 minutes away. I announced myself, apologized, and used the only clean surface available.”
The guard nodded. “He asked me first. I told him the East Wing was 15 minutes away.”
A woman near the door said, “He wasn’t bothering anyone. She was the one yelling.”
An older woman folded her arms. “He was changing babies, not robbing a bank.”
Lucas faced the manager. “I’d like to file a complaint.”
“Against him?” Patricia snapped.
“No,” Lucas said. “Against the mall. Fathers deserve to be seen too.”
Lucas glanced at me, then faced the manager again.
“I want the complaint number,” he said. “I’m following up.”
