Chapter 6
6
CRYSTAL
That photo! That child! Oh my God. I almost wished I hadn’t asked to see it. I didn’t expect to react quite that way, but then, I hadn’t expected Poppy to look like that; to be quite so stunningly beautiful. I’ll admit it: it brought me to tears, seeing that beautiful little girl and knowing her father had turned his back on her, leaving her without a second thought. How could he do that?
Poor Gemma; I really felt for her. The anger that had almost destroyed me when I was deserted, came rushing back again. Her ex was not only a liar, he was a coward, running away from any confrontation, avoiding any consequences, not giving a damn about his responsibilities. I wanted him to be found, to be dragged through the court and forced to pay up. I wanted him to suffer. I was almost incandescent with anger on Gemma’s behalf.
But I knew I needed to calm down. If I was going to be friends with Gemma – and I now wanted that desperately – then I had to keep my feelings to myself. To have me ranting furiously to her about her situation wouldn’t exactly have helped her, it would have made things worse – and would probably have scared her off. She didn’t need to know about my own story, my own suffering. Even if she asked me, it’d be best not to go into details. She needed me to be supportive, not make her feel worse!
Of course, that wasn’t the whole reason I was going to be reticent about myself. If she knew everything, she’d have probably started to feel uncomfortable about me – about my motives, my reasons for wanting to be her friend. She might have not wanted me to meet Poppy. And I wanted that, now, of course. I so badly wanted to meet that little girl and spend time with her. And I could only do that by becoming Gemma’s best friend – without her ever knowing my full story.