settlement belongs to Mia if I am her father.
I also want her to know I existed when she is old enough.
If the answer is no, I will accept legal boundaries.
If the answer is maybe someday, I will wait.
If the answer is yes to a letter and nothing else, I will write one.
I am sorry.
David.
I read it three times.
Then cried.
Not because I wanted him back.
I didn’t.
Because for the first time, David sounded like someone who understood what he had done without asking me to make him feel better about it.
That mattered.
I called my attorney.
“I’ll do the test.”
“Anything else?”
“One letter.”
“For Mia?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“No.”
“To keep for later.”
“And contact?”
“Through counsel only.”
“Good.”
I hung up.
Then I sat beside Mia on the living-room floor.
She was fourteen months old now.
Walking badly.
Falling
