He looked at me.
“I did.”
I froze.
“I came to the hospital.”
Trudy’s words rushed through my mind.
“You were there?”
He nodded.
“My parents wanted me to stay away. They believed a baby would ruin my future.”
“And what did you believe?”
“I was scared. I loved Teagan, but I let everyone else tell me what my life should look like.”
“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.”
He swallowed.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Write him a letter.”
“A letter?”
“Tell him who you are. Tell him why you weren’t there. And tell him why you’re here now.”
He nodded.
“And don’t blame Teagan.”
“I won’t.”
“You don’t get credit for finally showing up ten years late,” I said. “But you do get a chance to decide what kind of man you’re going to be from this point forward.”
Two days later, an envelope appeared on my porch.
Lucas’s name was written across the front.
I hated opening something addressed to him.
But Lucas was ten, and I was still responsible for protecting him.
One sentence stayed with me.
I was scared when I was eighteen, but being scared doesn’t explain ten years.
He asked for no forgiveness.
He blamed no one.
Before I gave the letter to Lucas, I called Trudy again.
“Can we meet?”
She sounded surprised.
“I thought you’d never want to see me again.”
“I didn’t say I forgave you.”
“I understand.”
“There’s something else I need.”
We met the next afternoon.
This time, I wasn’t there to discuss Lucas’s father.
I was there for my daughter.
“Was Teagan scared?”
Trudy’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
“Was she alone?”
“No. There were people with her the entire time.”
The answer hit me harder than I expected.
“Did she ask for me?”
