For the first time in years, he simply nodded.
The following morning, Mark stood outside Claire’s front door holding nothing but a diaper bag she had instructed him to buy.
No flowers.
No gifts.
No grand speech.
Claire opened the door.
“You’re early.”
“Seven minutes.”
“I noticed.”
She stepped aside.
Mark entered.
He heard them before he saw them.
Soft noises from the living room.
Then he rounded the corner.
Three bassinets stood side by side near the window.
Mark stopped.
Grace slept with one fist tucked against her cheek.
Lily made tiny restless movements beneath a pale blanket.
Faith was awake.
Her eyes were barely open.
Mark could not move.
Claire’s voice softened.
“Would you like to hold your daughter?”
His throat tightened.
“Which one?”
“Faith.”
The smallest.
The one who had struggled most.
Claire lifted her carefully and placed her in his arms.
Mark stared down at the child.
Faith weighed almost nothing.
Yet somehow she felt heavier than anything he had ever held.
“Hello,” he whispered.
Her fingers moved against his shirt.
Mark began to cry.
Quietly.
Without hiding it.
“I’m your dad.”
Claire looked away, giving him privacy.
Then a floorboard creaked behind him.
Mark froze.
He knew the sound of Emily’s footsteps before he turned.
She stood in the doorway.
Paler than before.
Tired.
One hand resting lightly against the frame.
But standing.
Watching him hold their daughter.
Mark’s mouth opened.
No explanation came.
No rehearsed apology.
Only her name.
“Emily.”
She looked at Faith.
Then at him.
“I wasn’t planning to come downstairs.”
Mark swallowed.
“I’m glad you did.”
Emily’s expression was unreadable.
“I came because there’s something else we have to discuss.”
His stomach tightened.
“The apartment?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Mark waited.
Emily stepped slowly into the room.
“When I left the hospital, Claire and I found something in the insurance documents you had stored with that lease.”
Mark frowned.
“What?”
Emily looked at him steadily.
“A letter addressed to you.”
“From who?”
She hesitated.
Then answered.
“Your father.”
Mark’s breath caught.
