Chapter 6 - The First Time He Saw His Daughter
Salem did not meet Nia until she was four months old.
The visit was arranged through lawyers in a quiet family-services office.
He arrived early.
No tuxedo.
No driver.
No expensive watch.
Just dark jeans, a plain sweater, and the exhausted face of a man who had finally run out of people to blame.
Afra entered carrying Nia.
The baby wore a yellow cardigan and stared around the room with wide eyes.
Salem stopped breathing.
“She is bigger,” he whispered.
Afra looked at him.
“She grows every day.”
The sentence was not cruel.
That made it worse.
Because Salem had missed every day.
The first bath.
The first smile.
The nights Afra had stayed awake holding a crying child.
The doctor visits.
The tiny milestones.
He had missed them because he believed he could return whenever he wanted.
“Can I hold her?” he asked.
Afra hesitated.
Then she looked at the caseworker.
The woman nodded.
Afra placed Nia carefully into Salem’s arms.
“Support her neck,” she said.
Salem held his daughter awkwardly at first.
Then Nia wrapped her tiny hand around one of his fingers.
His face broke.
Tears slid down his cheeks.
Afra watched him cry.
A part of her wanted to feel satisfaction.
Instead, she felt tired.
“You threw us out,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“You looked at her and turned away.”
“I know.”
“You let your mother call her inconvenient. You let Renee stand in our home and laugh while she was cold.”
Salem closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Afra’s voice shook slightly.
“You cannot say that you know. Knowing would have stopped you.”
He looked down at Nia.
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That I had become someone you would leave.”
Afra stared at him.
“No, Salem. You were ashamed because you thought I would not.”
He had no answer.
The caseworker gave them another ten minutes.
Salem spent every second looking at Nia.
And when Afra took her back, he did not protest.
He only whispered, “I am sorry.”
Afra turned toward the door.
May you like
Then she paused.
“Be sorry long enough to change,” she said. “Not just long enough to be forgiven.”
