“You agreed.”
“I thought I was buying our freedom.”
“Our freedom?”
“If the money was legally mine, he couldn’t control where we lived. He couldn’t threaten my career. He couldn’t interfere with you or the baby.”
“And you decided disappearing was the solution.”
“I thought a few months apart was worth having the rest of our lives beyond his reach.”
I stared at him.
It was almost worse than learning he had simply panicked.
Because Julian had convinced himself that abandoning me temporarily was an act of love.
“Where was my choice?”
He stopped.
“That was my pregnancy.”
I pointed toward Ivy.
“My child.”
Then toward myself.
“My life.”
Julian said nothing.
“You didn’t ask whether I wanted one-point-six million dollars.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t ask whether I wanted to spend pregnancy believing the man I loved had abandoned me.”
“I know.”
“You made the decision.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And then you planned to come back afterward and explain why I should be grateful.”
“No.”
“Wasn’t that the plan?”
He lowered his head.
And suddenly, I understood why everything felt so familiar.
Richard had decided my mother should accept what he wanted.
Grandpa had decided which parts of my childhood I was better off not knowing.
Julian had decided what pain I should endure in exchange for a future he thought was best for me.
Different intentions.
Same pattern.
I looked from father to son.
“Do you know what all of you have in common?”
Neither answered.
“You keep making decisions for women and calling it love.”
Richard’s face hardened.
Julian’s collapsed.
I looked toward the garden.
“My mother said no, so Richard decided she deserved consequences.”
I turned toward the house.
“My grandfather loved me more than anyone in this world, but he still decided I didn’t deserve the truth about my own childhood.”
Then I looked at Julian.
“And you decided I could survive being abandoned because you had already calculated that the money would make it worth it.”
“Claire…”
“You didn’t trust me enough to choose with you.”
That sentence finally silenced him.
Part 7 — “Can I Be Her Father?”
For the first time since Julian appeared, Ivy made a small sound.
His eyes went instantly to her.
His expression softened.
“She has my eyes.”
I looked down.
“Yes.”
His voice nearly disappeared.
“Can I hold her?”
I hesitated.
Everything in me was still angry.
But Ivy was not a punishment.
And whatever Julian had done to me, he was still her father.
I stepped closer.
“Sit down.”
He immediately obeyed.
I carefully placed Ivy in his arms.
Julian looked at her as though someone had handed him the entire world.
His hands trembled.
“Hi.”
Ivy opened one blue eye.
