Ryan had aged well, because of course he had. But there was something less sharp about him now. Less certain that every room owed him reflection.
“What is it?”
He glanced toward Lily.
“She’s remarkable.”
“Yes.”
“She gets that from you.”
I did not know what to do with the sentence.
So I said, “She gets some things from everyone. Mostly she gets herself from herself.”
He nodded.
Then he took a breath.
“I never properly apologized for the hospital.”
My body went still.
We had done legal apologies. Co-parenting apologies. Practical apologies. But not that.
He continued before I could answer.
“I was afraid. Not of losing you. Not even of losing her. I was afraid of looking like a fool. I let that matter more than your pain. More than her birth. I have used stress as an excuse for years, but that morning was not stress. It was cowardice.”
