"Then what are you claiming?"
"That they're my family too."
The words filled the room.
Isaiah's fists tightened.
Thomas saw it.
He did not step back.
"I know you're her father."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"She calls you Dad."
"Because she chose to."
Isaiah looked ready to explode.
Thomas's voice softened.
"I never asked her to."
Silence.
"When she said it the first time, I told Lena maybe we should correct her."
Isaiah stared.
"Lena said no."
Thomas looked down.
"She said Maya had lost enough. If the word made her feel safe, let her have it."
Isaiah looked toward the window.
Thomas continued.
"If you want me out of the house while you figure things out, I'll stay somewhere else."
Isaiah turned.
"You'd do that?"
"For Maya."
"Not Lena?"
"For Lena too."
Thomas took a breath.
"But I won't disappear without explaining it to Maya."
Isaiah understood immediately.
Because soldiers leave.
Fathers die.
People vanish.
Maya had already endured enough disappearance.
Isaiah sat again.
Thomas waited.
Then Isaiah asked, "Was Lena happy?"
Thomas did not answer.
Isaiah looked up.
"Before I came back."
Thomas sighed.
"Sometimes."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the honest one."
Isaiah nodded.
Thomas continued.
"She loved you."
"Past tense?"
"Not exactly."
Isaiah stared.
Thomas rubbed his hands together.
"There's a room downstairs."
Isaiah frowned.
"Your old office."
"What about it?"
"She never let me change it."
Isaiah said nothing.
"Your uniforms are there."
Thomas swallowed.
"Your medals. Photographs. Boxes."
Isaiah looked away.
"Maya goes in there sometimes."
"Why?"
"To talk to you."
Isaiah's head turned sharply.
Thomas nodded.
"She used to sit on the floor beside your desk and tell you about school."
Isaiah closed his eyes.
Thomas's voice became quieter.
"Lena would stand outside the door and listen."
For several moments, Isaiah could not speak.
Finally he whispered, "Then why marry you?"