“I don’t really know what happened between you. I don’t need to. But I’ve known about my illness for a while, and if something ever happened to me, I wouldn’t want pride or old hurt to keep Wren from having every person who can love her. She needs all the support she can get. And maybe you do too.”
“I chose her, too.”
Tears were streaming down my face at that point.
“If Heath is willing to show up, let him. Not to replace me. No one can. But to stand beside you both.
Love, Callum.”
My vision blurred.
“He had no right,” I whispered, even though my voice shook.
“He loved her,” Heath said quietly. “He wasn’t trying to replace himself. He was trying to protect her.”
“He had no right.”
Wren looked at me, tears shining in her eyes. “Dad wasn’t scared of this. Why are you?”
Because I was 25 again and remembered standing on my porch, waiting for Heath to show up after he disappeared. Because I’d buried that humiliation so deep it turned into stone.
“You left,” I said to Heath. “You walked away before she was even born.”
His jaw tightened. “I didn’t know she existed.”
“You didn’t call or come back.”
“Dad wasn’t scared of this.”
“I was young and stupid,” he said, frustration creeping into his voice. “I thought shutting you out and moving on was what was best for us. You remember how much we fought during those last few months?”
I stared at him. “So, you ghosted me instead of talking to me?”
“By the time I came to my senses, you’d changed your number and moved out,” he insisted. “Your father told me you didn’t want to see me again.”
My stomach twisted.
“My father?” I asked.
He nodded. “I went to see you, but your father told me that if I cared about you, I would let you go. He never mentioned you being pregnant.”
“My father?”
The memory came rushing back. My father had been furious when he found out I was pregnant. He’d called Heath irresponsible and said, “He’ll ruin your life.”
“You’re saying my father interfered?” I asked slowly.
“I’m saying I was 26, selfish, and scared,” Heath replied. “And I believed him when he said you wanted nothing to do with me.”
I shook my head, trying to piece together a version of the past that made sense.
“He’ll ruin your life.”
“You never tried again?” I pressed.
“No,” he said. “But when I saw Wren here at school, she reminded me of you. But you were already with Callum. It sounded like you were happy. I didn’t want to interfere. I had no right to.”
The truth hurt in a different way than anger had.
Wren’s voice cut through us. “So you didn’t leave because you didn’t care? And you didn’t know about me?”
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