Chapter 7 - First Steps on Shaky Ground
Dinner was brought to the guest house by the estate's staff—a quiet, delicious meal of roast chicken, winter vegetables, and warm bread.
For the first time in eight years, Daniel sat at the same table as his children. He sat at the far end, refusing to intrude on their space, but his eyes never left them. He watched how Ethan carefully separated his peas from his potatoes, how Sophia drank her milk with two hands, how Olivia meticulously organized her napkin, and how Noah quietly monitored everything happening in the room.
"Why are you staring at us?" Ethan asked suddenly, setting his fork down and looking straight at Daniel.
Daniel flushed red, ducking his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Ethan. I... I just can't believe how big you all are. I've missed so much."
"Where were you?" Sophia asked, her sweet voice devoid of malice, carrying only the genuine curiosity of an eight-year-old child. "Mama said you were far away, but she never said where."
Daniel looked at me, a silent plea in his eyes, asking for guidance on how to answer without destroying whatever fragile peace remained.
"Tell them the truth, Daniel," I said from the head of the table, wiping my mouth with a napkin. "In simple terms."
Daniel took a deep breath, resting his hands flat on the table. "I was... I was very foolish, Sophia. Eight years ago, people told me things that weren't true about your mother, and instead of being brave and asking her the truth, I got scared and ran away. I went to live in big cities, working all the time, trying to forget how sad I was."
Noah leaned forward, his brow furrowing. "Did you know we were coming today?"
"No, Noah," Daniel whispered, tears brimming in his eyes again. "I thought... I was told you didn't exist. I was told your mother had gone away alone. When I saw you four walk through that door today, it was like... like a miracle I didn't deserve."
Olivia looked at her brothers, then at her sister. "Are you going to be our dad now?"
Daniel looked at me, his breath hitching. "I want to be, Olivia. More than anything in the world. But I have to earn that. I have to show your mother, and all four of you, that I am strong enough now to never leave again."
Noah studied Daniel for a long, heavy moment. He looked down at his plate, then back up at the man sitting across from him.
"Do you know how to build lego castles?" Noah asked plainly.
Daniel blinked, a sudden, breathless laugh breaking through his tears. "I... I used to be very good at it."
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"Good," Noah said, taking another bite of his chicken. "Because we have a ten-thousand-piece castle set at home that Mama hasn't had time to help us build. If you want to be our dad, you have to help us finish it."
Daniel wiped a tear from his cheek, a genuine, radiant smile breaking across his face for the first time all day. "I'll build a hundred castles with you, Noah. I promise."
