Chapter 13 - The Door He Stayed Beside
A nurse had seen Lucy enter the stairwell. Ethan found her sitting on the landing one floor below, hugging her knees.
He stopped several steps away.
"Can I sit?"
She shrugged.
He sat on the cold concrete, leaving room between them.
"I didn't leave the hospital," she said.
"I know. But we need to know where you are."
"Mom said maybe we should start over somewhere."
Ethan waited.
"That's what people say when they want to leave things behind."
"Sometimes."
"Are you a thing?"
He shook his head.
"I'm your father. We still have paperwork to do, but nobody is deciding your life without talking to you."
"Mom decided before."
"She did. That's why we have to do this differently."
Lucy picked at a loose thread on her sleeve.
"What if you stop liking each other again?"
"Then I still pick you up. I still answer when you call. I still go to the boring school meetings."
"They're really boring."
"I'll survive."
She leaned her head against the railing.
"I don't want another promise that sounds nice."
"Then don't believe it all today. Watch what I do."
After a while, she slid closer.
He stayed until she was ready to stand.
Back upstairs, Olivia apologized without explaining it away. She had been frightened about bills, work, and becoming a story people whispered about. She hadn't made a plan to move.
"Next time, I'll ask what you need before I decide what would protect you," she told Lucy.
"I need both of you to stop guessing."
So they started with things they could actually arrange: visits, rides, school, recovery appointments. Ethan offered help. Olivia accepted some and refused some. Nobody turned either answer into a punishment.
Weeks passed. Olivia moved from the hospital to her apartment. Ethan learned where Lucy kept her lunchbox and which bedroom floorboard squeaked.
With Olivia's consent, they completed a paternity test and began the process of formally recognizing Ethan as Lucy's father.
Meanwhile, bank records connected the foundation's suspect vendor to Victoria. The money had been reaching an account she controlled. Investigators found recent transfers as well as the old ones.
Then the paternity results arrived.
May you like
Lucy brought the sealed envelope to the kitchen table.
"Before we open it," Ethan said, "there's something you need to hear."
