The doors opened.
Sophie stepped down.
Then another adult followed.
Daniel’s body tensed automatically.
A woman.
Rebecca Hart.
Now a lieutenant.
Sophie grinned.
“Surprise.”
Daniel stared.
“What did you do?”
Rebecca laughed.
“Your daughter invited me to dinner.”
“I did not.”
“You said, ‘You should come sometime.’”
“That was politeness.”
“I accepted.”
Sophie hugged Daniel.
He looked down.
For half a second she was seven again.
Then twelve.
“Why are you looking weird?”
“Age.”
“You’re forty-five.”
“Ancient.”
Rebecca smiled.
“That’s my line.”
They walked toward the house.
Near the porch Sophie stopped.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to meet Luke.”
Daniel had always known the sentence might come.
Knowing did not prepare him.
Rebecca immediately stepped away.
“I’ll go inside.”
“No,” Daniel said.
She looked at him.
“Stay.”
Sophie waited.
Daniel stared toward the quiet street.
“What changed?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not very Sophie.”
She smiled faintly.
“Carol showed me pictures.”
“Okay.”
“And Luke keeps following the rules.”
“For four years.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I want to know what he sounds like.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“You heard the recording.”
“That was old.”
“You heard the letter.”
“That’s writing.”
“Right.”
She looked at him.
“I want to know if he laughs like me.”
There it was.
Nothing legal.
Nothing dramatic.
A child becoming an adolescent and wondering where parts of herself came from.
Daniel forced himself not to make the question about him.
“Okay.”
Sophie blinked.
“That easy?”
“No.”
He smiled sadly.
“But okay.”
The first contact happened by video call.
Dr. Shah’s office.
Daniel sat nearby but outside camera range.
Luke appeared on screen.
Forty-three now.
Red hair thinner.
Face older.
He looked terrified.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Sophie said, “Hi.”
Luke swallowed.
“Hi.”
“You look like Caleb.”
Luke laughed unexpectedly.
It was a short laugh.
Sophie’s eyes widened.
Daniel heard it too.