“When you said you’d just given birth, something felt wrong.”
“So you came running here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then admitted quietly,
“Because if there was even a chance the baby was mine… I needed to know before marrying someone else.”
Olivia exhaled slowly.
Thunder rumbled faintly outside.
Daniel looked back at the tiny sleeping girl.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he said. “But I want to be part of her life.”
Six months ago, Olivia would have given anything to hear those words.
Now they felt complicated.
Heavy.
“You don’t get to walk back in like nothing happened,” she said.
“I know.”
“You abandoned us.”
“I know.”
“You called this baby a trap.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“I know.”
Silence settled again.
Then Margaret spoke firmly.
“If you want to be her father, you start by earning it.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“That’s fair.”
Olivia studied him.
The panic had faded from his face.
In its place was something quieter.
Determination.
He looked older now.
Like someone who had finally realized the biggest mistake of his life.
Olivia glanced at Grace.
The baby yawned softly in her sleep.
So small.
So unaware of the complicated world waiting for her.
“What happens now?” Daniel asked.
Olivia thought for a long moment.