She froze. Her eyes widened, but only for an instant. She instructed the boys to wait near a vending machine on the corner and then turned back to face him.
“What do you want, Mason.”
“I saw you yesterday. I… saw them.”
“And.”
“I need to know if…”
“Say it,” she said.
“If they’re mine.”
Kara inhaled sharply as if steadying herself. “And if I say yes, what happens. You walk back into our lives after six years and everything magically resets.”
“No. I just need the truth. I should have known it a long time ago.”
She watched him in silence. The anger in her eyes was old and deep. “You left without a single explanation. You did not call. You did not check. I did everything alone.”
“I know.”
“You do not,” she replied softly. “But you can try to understand. Tomorrow. Six in the morning. A café near the bus station. If you are late, do not come again.”
He was early.
Her answer was simple. Yes. All three boys were his.
The world tilted under his feet. He felt shame, grief, and disbelief mixing so fast he could barely breathe. Kara slid a folded birth certificate across the table. The space for the father’s name was empty. Mason touched the paper and felt something inside him fracture.