The Father They Never Had
Chapter 09 - The Father They Never Had
Nathan did not ask Claire for forgiveness.
He asked for time.
Not with her.
With the boys.
Claire refused at first.
“You don’t get to appear at five years old and become Dad because someone finally showed you a birth certificate.”
Nathan nodded.
“You’re right.”
That answer surprised her.
He hired no lawyers.
Made no custody threats.
Offered no money.
Instead, he asked Claire what the boys liked.
Ethan loved dinosaurs.
Oliver hated peas.
Noah slept with a stuffed rabbit named Captain.
Nathan wrote everything down.
The first visit lasted thirty minutes.
The boys barely spoke.
The second lasted an hour.
By the fourth, Ethan asked Nathan to help build a plastic dinosaur skeleton.
Nathan put the tail where the neck belonged.
Oliver laughed until he fell off the couch.
Claire watched from the kitchen.
For six years, she had imagined Nathan as the villain of her story.
Watching him struggle to become a father was more difficult than hating him.
Because hatred was simple.
Hope was dangerous.
Then one afternoon, Nathan found an old photograph on Claire’s shelf.
Robert Bennett.
Beside him stood Claire.
And behind them was a building Nathan recognized.
The unfinished Hale Grand Hotel.
Nathan stared at the photograph.
On the far edge was another person.
A man no one had mentioned.
May you like
Thomas Prescott.
Madeline’s father.
