Evelyn became serious.
"Lena loved you."
"She married someone else."
"Both things can be true."
Isaiah looked toward the window.
His mother continued.
"And Thomas loves Maya."
"I noticed."
"You should be grateful."
Isaiah turned sharply.
"Grateful?"
"Would you rather a cruel man had raised your child?"
"He's not her father."
"No."
Evelyn nodded.
"You are."
Isaiah's anger weakened.
"But fatherhood didn't stop while you were gone."
That sentence remained with him.
Fatherhood didn't stop.
School plays happened.
Teeth fell out.
Bikes were learned.
Nightmares came.
Birthdays passed.
Someone had to be there.
Isaiah hated that someone had been Thomas.
He also hated himself for hating it.
Three weeks passed.
Isaiah moved from the motel into a furnished apartment provided temporarily through a military transition program.
He began intensive treatment for trauma.
He underwent medical evaluations.
Sleep remained difficult.
Crowds were worse.
Sudden noises sent his body into defensive reactions before his mind could intervene.
Maya visited him twice a week.
At first Lena came too.
Then, gradually, Isaiah and Maya spent time alone.
They started with simple things.
Ice cream.
Walks.
Movies.
Isaiah learned his daughter again.
She liked astronomy.
She hated tomatoes.
She wanted to become either a veterinarian or an astronaut depending on the day.
She loved basketball but was terrible at free throws.
She no longer slept with a stuffed rabbit except when she was upset.
She called Thomas Dad.
She called Isaiah "Daddy Isaiah."
The first time it happened, he pretended not to notice.
Afterward, he cried in his car.
He wanted to be simply Dad.
But he understood that names were not commands.
One Saturday, Maya asked him something unexpected.
"Do you want Mom back?"
Isaiah nearly choked on his coffee.
They were sitting at a diner.
"That's a grown-up question."
"I'm almost ten."
"Exactly."
Maya frowned.
"Grandma says you still love her."
Isaiah rubbed his forehead.
"Your grandmother talks too much."
"Both grandmas."
Isaiah looked at her.
"Lena's mother too?"
Maya nodded.
"Everybody talks when they think I'm watching TV."
Isaiah sighed.
"What do you want?"
Maya looked down at her pancakes.