“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 …

I stared at Caleb.

“And you agreed?”

“I agreed. I told myself that once the baby was born and the trust was legally mine, he couldn’t control me with it anymore. Then I’d come back, tell you everything, and we’d build a life he couldn’t touch.”

“And Nora was born almost two weeks ago,” I said. “So why are you still here?”

“The transfer cleared three days ago. I was packing to leave when Dad told me Nora was still in the NICU. I didn’t even know which hospital you were in.”

I could barely believe what I was hearing.

“So you disappeared and decided I’d understand later.”

His eyes dropped to Nora.

“I told myself losing those months with you was better than letting him control the rest of our lives.”

“And you never thought I should get a say in that?”

Caleb went silent.