The pregnant woman turned out to be Patricia’s daughter, Paige, who had been listening from the hallway to my apologies. She told her mother, “Being pregnant is exactly why I know how mercilessly you are acting.” Her husband, Lucas, supported her when he added, “Our baby needs both of us.” Patricia tried to explain that women were different from men, but Lucas replied that “This is where it ends,” adding, “If you can respect both parents or not, please don’t bring such an attitude to our home. Patricia, you threatened this man’s home.”
Paige began crying, saying, “Mom, if anything happened to me, I would pray that Lucas fought as hard for our baby as he did.” Patricia retorted, “But he had no right,” yet I intervened, “But I didn’t have any other choice either.”
Security and the mall manager showed up. Patricia declared, “This man used the women’s bathroom.” Then I told them that there were no facilities, saying, “Since there was no table in the men’s room, the family restroom in this wing was unavailable, and the East Wing is a 15-minute walk. I gave them my name and apologized.
Lucas turned to the manager for filing a complaint against the mall because fathers should be recognized as well, and he demanded the number of his complaint to keep track of it. The manager agreed with him and totally shut up Patricia by mentioning that I only tried to solve a problem of having no facilities while she had been making things worse.
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After that, the manager offered me a private room which had a clean table and some chairs. I said, “Thank you, I just need them dry and calm.” Paige told her mother that she was to apologize to me. When Patricia tried to explain that she didn’t know about my wife, I told her, “You shouldn’t have needed to.” After that, Paige threatened her that if she would ever treat Lucas as she treated me, they would have huge problems.
Inside the staff room, Paige came in with some dropped supplies, saying, “These fell out,” and apologized on behalf of her mom. I told her, “It wasn’t you.” Lucas agreed to ensure that the complaint got attention, and I said, “Please put my name on it as well,” because, when I looked at my girls, “I don’t want another dad in that hallway the way I stood.”
Finally, I purchased those yellow sleepers. At home, I placed them into their cribs and kissed my wedding band, whispering, “We survived the day, Claire.” Looking at my girls, I finally believed we could.
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Love and Peace
