Kai couldn’t move.
It was as if the air had turned heavy and thick with something too sacred to breathe through. His chest ached, his throat burned, and yet all he could do was stare. Stare at the woman who had every reason to hate him… and didn’t. Stare at the little boy in her arms, the child he once believed was only a remnant of his guilt, now looking at him with innocent trust. Stare at the tiny bundle in his own arms, whose soft breaths brushed against his wrist, so fragile and pure it almost hurt to hold her.
His vision blurred until everything shimmered at the edges. A strangled sound left his lips, not quite a sob, not quite a breath but something in between. And then the tears came, unbidden and unstoppable.
He didn’t try to hide them this time. He couldn’t.
Because how could
