Carolyn resented the fact that the caregiver had given her child to Adam, whom she thought was a stranger, not to her. The caregiver didn’t understand why she shouldn’t have. Carolyn was not divorced and the court did not forbid anything. And all the girl wanted was at least to be asked permission. After all, Adam was Diana’s father. The girl was very happy to see her daddy and gladly ran to him. How was it possible not to give? Disagreements between parents should not affect the child, the teachers thought. And it was none of their business.
Carolyn had only one choice – to call her husband herself and find out his intentions about the child.
Over the phone, Adam started talking about how his wife was not doing a good job raising him. They had not lived together for about a year. And Adam asked that she not file for child support so that she wouldn’t get into trouble at work. Only Carolyn wouldn’t listen. Apparently she vitally needed the two thousand that her spouse didn’t give her for Hands. So he thought it better not to pay the extra, and himself to take care of his child.
Carolyn began to insist that her daughter be returned to her. She asked for the address of her stay. She worried that Adam had to go to work soon, and Diana had to be in day care.
Adam had an argument here, too. He went on vacation for a week to give his daughter a break from day care. He is also her parent. Until then, Carolyn had let them see very little of each other, even though she accepted full child support.
Although, according to the woman, the father did not really insist on spending time with the child. Carolyn began to threaten to go to the police.
Adam wanted one thing: Carolyn had to withdraw the child support claim within a week, so that he would stop being harassed at work. Otherwise, he was ready to go to the judges, even to deprive his wife of parental rights. All Carolyn had to do was agree to let her father spend a week with his daughter. But she warned him at once not to try to hide. Otherwise, she herself will go to court.
Adam already had a new woman. Only Caroline didn’t know that yet. Otherwise, she would have calmed down by now. After all, other people’s women are not very happy with other people’s children. Besides, Diana was a difficult girl. She was only five years old, but already quite spoiled. Even Carolyn could not always put up with the whims of a girl. A strange woman certainly wouldn’t go for it.
Until Adam picked up his daughter from day care, new wife Melissa was not yet suspicious of anything and was ready to support her beloved. Even agreed to take the child, gave in to the fact that the failed spouse is not a good person, and so on. Diane, on the other hand, was told that her mother was away on business for a week.
The negotiations were over. One could exhale. But some noise was heard coming from the kitchen. Melissa and Adam went there. The scene unfolded before them: the floor was covered in buckwheat, and Diane was trying to pick it up with a broom.
It turned out that Diana was trying to find flour to make pancakes. She and her mother used to do this. She couldn’t find what she wanted, but she found buckwheat.
Melissa began to talk about why the girl wanted pancakes after mashed potatoes and sausages. But the child wanted it. And it almost came to tears. All Melissa had to do was submit to the child’s desire.
In the end, Diane only had enough for half the pancakes. But she didn’t like them much. After that she didn’t like the fact that Daddy would sleep with someone else’s aunt. After all, it should be her own daughter. And again she got hysterical. Adam had no choice but to settle down with his daughter. When the girl fell asleep, he moved her to the couch.
In the morning the screaming, caprices and demands began. Diana had enough energy to make sure that no one was left without her attention. Her father was even about to punish the child as a preventive measure. But Diana turned out to be not so simple. She promised to tell her mom everything, and then she also promised to tell her grandmother.
It was a hard weekend. Adam tried to be a good father to win his daughter’s affection. But any unnecessary movement led to hysterics.
If he refused to buy this or that thing, Diana gave a real concert: with tantrums and twitching feet. Not a single day off went by without a caprice. She didn’t even need an excuse.
Already on Sunday night Melissa had run out of patience. She had to go to work the next day and had no energy at all. Already she was receiving complaints from neighbors. Things could not go on like this. She begged for the child to be returned to his mother. And Adam didn’t want it. He had to get Carolyn to withdraw the child support papers. Otherwise it was all for nothing.
Melissa was already willing to do anything to make it stop. She was even ready to leave and leave the man alone with the child.
Adam took Diane to day care. Told Carolyn right away. Said that he could not cope. Agreed to pay not even two but three thousand more. The main thing was that it was unofficial.
Carolyn agreed and promised to withdraw the application, and so did her daughter. And she herself gloated that Adam was not up to the role of a father. Carolyn had been like that as a child, with a temper.
