“But I couldn’t let him go into foster care.”
Daniel looked at the sleeping boy.
“Did anyone ask you to?”
“Melissa disappeared again.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“When?”
“Five months ago.”
“Where is she now?”
“Nobody knows.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
Snow had begun falling lightly outside.
He remembered Melissa at twenty-two.
Bright.
Restless.
Always pretending everything was funny.
He wondered what had happened to turn her life into this.
“Does Caleb know her?”
“Not really.”
Daniel looked at Rachel.
“And he thinks you’re his mother?”
She hesitated.
“He calls me Mama.”
Daniel absorbed that.
“And you want him to call me Daddy.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rachel looked surprised.
“Because you’re my husband.”
“That’s not enough.”
She waited.
Daniel continued.
“If I’m going to be that to him, I need to choose it.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“You’re right.”
“I can’t just walk through the door and become somebody’s father because you decided it.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked at the sleeping toddler again.
“But I’m not saying no.”
Rachel stopped breathing for a moment.
“You’re not?”
“I’m saying I need time.”
She nodded quickly.
“Take all the time you need.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You say that like he isn’t sleeping in my living room.”
“Our living room.”
“Fair.”
Rachel smiled for the first time since the confrontation began.
Daniel looked around the house.
There were signs he had missed when he entered.
Plastic toys beneath the coffee table.
A small cup near the kitchen.
A childproof latch on one cabinet.
A tiny jacket hanging beside Rachel’s coat.
This had been Caleb’s world for months.
Daniel had walked into the middle of it.
That night, Daniel slept badly.
Jet lag.
Questions.
Anger.
At three in the morning, he heard crying through the hallway.
Daniel opened the bedroom door.
Rachel was already getting up.
“I’ve got him.”
Daniel hesitated.
Then said, “No.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I’ll go.”
“You don’t have to prove anything.”
“I know.”
Daniel walked down the hall.
Caleb was standing inside a crib in what used to be Daniel’s home office.
His face was red from crying.
When he saw Daniel, he became quiet.
Not comforted.
Just confused.
Daniel stood awkwardly beside the crib.
“Hey.”