We met at the summer county fair, where he won me an enormous stuffed bear with one crooked ear.

We were together for eight months.

He was funny and restless, always drawing plans for houses he hoped to renovate one day.

When I became pregnant, he wanted to help.

I was frightened of my father’s temper and insisted we wait until I had a job and a plan before telling anyone his name.

“Then he went away,” I told Tobias.

“Not because he rejected us.