“That explains being eighteen,” I said.
“It doesn’t explain ten years.”
He looked down.
“Teagan told me not to come back until I
was willing to choose for myself.”
“And?”
“I finally did.”
“After she died.”
“I didn’t know she was gone when I left home that day.”
“But you found out at the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“And you saw me carrying Lucas.”
He wiped his face.
“I panicked.”
“What about the next day?”
Silence.
“The next week?”
Nothing.
“The next year?”
His eyes dropped.
“You weren’t eighteen for ten years,” I said.
“I know.”
“I kept telling myself I had waited too long. Every year made that excuse easier.”
I believed him.
That didn’t excuse him.
“Does Lucas know about me?” he asked.
“He knows his father exists.”
“Can I see him?”
“No.”
His head lifted.
“I’m his father.”
“You are the man who fathered him. What happens next depends on what you choose to do now.”
