Maya loves him.
She calls him Dad now.
I cried in the bathroom the first time.
Not because he doesn't deserve it.
Because you do too.
If there is any part of you anywhere that can hear me, I hope you forgive me.
I waited.
I swear I waited.
I just couldn't keep living in the doorway waiting for footsteps that never came.
Isaiah sat in his old chair.
The letter shook in his hands.
Lena quietly left him alone.
He remained there for almost an hour.
When he finally entered the kitchen, Lena was making coffee.
He sat at the table.
"Why didn't you throw them away?"
She looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
Lena placed the coffee pot down.
"Because loving Thomas didn't erase you."
Isaiah nodded.
He looked toward the back door.
"Do you love him?"
"Yes."
"Do you love me?"
Lena began crying before she answered.
"Yes."
Isaiah laughed sadly.
"That's inconvenient."
She laughed through tears.
"Very."
He rubbed his face.
"What do you want?"
Lena looked terrified.
"I don't know."
"That's not fair."
"I know."
"To me or him."
"I know."
Isaiah stood.
"I can't compete for my own wife."
"I'm not asking you to."
"But if you choose him, I lose you."
Lena whispered, "And if I choose you, he loses me."
Isaiah nodded.
For the first time, he fully understood the shape of the problem.
There was no villain.
No betrayal simple enough to punish.
Only a war that had taken four years from him and rearranged everyone who survived.
Isaiah left.
Several days later, he went to Thomas's temporary apartment.
Thomas looked surprised.
"Everything okay?"
"No."
Thomas stepped aside anyway.
Isaiah entered.
On a small table sat a framed photograph of Maya.
Not Lena.
Maya.
Isaiah noticed.
Thomas followed his eyes.
"She gave me that for Father's Day."
Isaiah nodded.
They sat.
Isaiah said, "Lena showed me the letters."
Thomas immediately understood.
"Okay."
"She wrote about you."
Thomas looked uncomfortable.
"I figured."
Isaiah stared at him.
"Do you think she should choose you?"