“After I gave birth, I brought my baby to meet the grandpa who raised me — but the moment he saw her face, he burst into tears and said, “This is impossible. You have no idea what you’ve done.” My grandpa was the only father I ever had after my parents died in a car crash. So when I got pregnant at 27 and the man I loved disappeared the same night I told him, Grandpa was the one who held me together. He had never met Caleb. I had kept putting off introducing them, telling …

The house seemed smaller than I remembered.

The garden looked almost exactly the same.

An older man opened the front door.

He was thinner than I had imagined, but the eyes told me immediately who he was.

William.

He looked at me for several seconds.

“You look exactly like your mother.”

I held Nora tighter.

“I need to speak with Caleb.”

“Caleb isn’t available.”

“Then tell me why he left.”

William glanced at Nora.

“Come inside. We can talk about this like adults.”

“I want an answer.”

His gaze dropped to Nora’s face.

For one brief second, something changed in his expression.

Recognition.

Then it disappeared.

His jaw tightened.

“He knew about the pregnancy. He chose to leave.”

His voice became perfectly calm.

“That is the answer you drove all this way for. Take your daughter and go home.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That is not my concern. Please get off my porch.”