Chapter 4 - A FATHER'S RECKONING
Ethan didn't move. He stood frozen, staring at his son. For the first time, he wasn't looking at a complication. He was looking at a human being who had his own nose, his own eyes, and a vulnerability that Ethan had spent his entire life trying to delete from his own identity.
“Let me hold him,” Ethan said. It wasn't a request; it was a demand born of a sudden, desperate urge to understand what he had thrown away.
“No,” Claire said.
The entire family watched, breathless.
“Claire, please,” Ethan said, his voice cracking. “I made a mistake. I thought... I thought I was protecting you by staying away, by working to build a base for us—”
“You were protecting your own ego,” Claire said. “You didn't want the messiness of a newborn. You wanted the version of me that existed before we had a child. Well, that version of me is gone.”
She turned toward the door, but Ethan lunged, not to take the baby, but to block her path. He fell to his knees in front of her, ignoring the shock of his parents, his brothers, and his guests.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, the words sounding foreign and painful. “I know I don’t deserve it. I know I’ve been a coward. But please... just one minute.”
Claire hesitated. The rage that had sustained her for seven months was suddenly eclipsed by a cold, hollow sadness. She looked at the man she had loved, the man who had been her world, and realized he was a stranger.
May you like
She shifted the baby into Ethan’s arms.
Noah was heavy, warm, and smelled like milk and laundry detergent. Ethan held him gingerly, as if the baby were made of glass. His hands trembled. As Noah let out a tiny, soft breath, Ethan closed his eyes, and a single tear escaped.
