“Would you mind?”
Owen looked at his brother.
Eli shrugged. “We can talk here.”
Daniel obviously wanted the conversation to be private.
The boys weren’t offering privacy.
So the five of us remained beside the university hallway while Vanessa and Mason stood several feet away.
Daniel chose his words carefully.
“I know I haven’t been around as much as I should have been.”
Owen’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
As much as I should have been.
Thirteen years reduced to an issue of scheduling.
Daniel noticed his reaction.
“I made mistakes,” he corrected himself. “A lot happened between your mother and me. You were young. Things were complicated.”
I remained silent.
I wanted to interrupt.
But the conversation no longer belonged to me.
Eli asked the question instead.
“Were our birthdays complicated?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
“Our concerts?” Eli continued. “Were those complicated too?”
“Eli,” I said quietly.
He turned toward me, and I realized he wasn’t becoming emotional or losing control.
He was completely calm.
He had simply stopped protecting Daniel from what was obvious.
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
“I should have done better.”
“Yes,” Owen said.
One word.
No cruelty.
No speech.
Daniel almost appeared relieved to hear something he could simply agree with.
“I want to do better now.”
That was when Owen looked toward me.
For years, I had wondered what I would do if this exact moment ever arrived.
Would I encourage them? Shield them? Tell Daniel that he had forfeited the right to ask?
But my sons were no longer little boys.
So I gave them the only answer that felt truthful.
“You don’t have to decide anything today.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“I’m their father, Claire.”
There it was.
Not an apology.
A claim.
Eli heard it too.
“You didn’t know who we were this morning,” he said.
Daniel fell silent.
Behind him, Mason’s expression changed.
His eyes moved from Daniel to Eli and then toward Owen.
