“Daniel?”
The man frowned.
“I'm sorry. Do I know you?”
Walter's heart sank.
Then he noticed the scar on the man's left hand.
He noticed the way he stood with one shoulder slightly lower than the other.
He noticed the small wolf emblem carved into the wooden shelf behind him.
Walter swallowed.
“It's Walter Hayes.”
The man froze.
Walter took one step forward.
“From the Iron Wolves.”
Daniel's face changed.
He looked older than his years, but recognition slowly returned.
“Walter?”
Walter nodded.
Daniel stared at him.
Then he looked past him.
Emily stood near the driveway, one hand pressed against her mouth.
For several seconds, Daniel couldn't move.
“Emily?”
She nodded.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Samuel?”
Walter turned slightly.
“He's with us.”
Daniel covered his face.
“Oh, God.”
He stepped backward into the house, gripping the doorframe.
Walter followed slowly.
“Daniel, what happened?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know where to start.”
“Start with why you never came home.”
Daniel looked toward Emily.
She was crying silently.
He lowered himself into a chair.
“I tried.”
Walter stood in front of him.
“Then why did you stop?”
Daniel looked down at his hands.
“Because I thought you were all better off without me.”
Walter's expression hardened.
“Explain.”
Daniel took a long breath.
After he had cooperated with the investigation, he had returned to the address he had been given. He discovered that the location was temporary and that the paperwork allowing him to contact his family had been delayed.
He wrote to Emily.
The letter was returned.
He tried calling the old phone number.
It had been disconnected.
He contacted Robert Ellis, but Robert had moved and the letter went unanswered.
At first, Daniel believed it was a temporary problem.
Then months became years.
He began to fear that someone had deliberately cut him off from his family.
He contacted the authorities again, but the original caseworker had retired and the records were difficult to locate. He was told to wait while his request was reviewed.
Meanwhile, he took work wherever he could find it.
He changed towns twice.
He became a mechanic at a small shop and tried to build a stable life.
But he never stopped thinking about Emily and Samuel.
“I kept telling myself I would find a way to contact you,” he said. “Then one year passed. Then another. And every year it became harder to imagine walking through the door and explaining why I hadn't come sooner.”
Emily stared at him.
“You thought I would reject you?”
Daniel nodded.
“I thought you might have rebuilt your life. I thought Samuel might not even remember me.”
“He didn't,” Emily whispered.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No,” she said, her voice growing stronger. “You don't know what that means. You don't know what it was like to answer his questions when I had no answers. You don't know what it felt like to watch him grow up wondering whether his father had chosen to leave.”
Daniel bowed his head.
“You're right.”
Emily wiped her face.
“I was angry with you for years. I believed you had abandoned us.”
“I would never have chosen to leave Samuel.”
“Then why didn't you keep trying?”
Daniel had no answer that could undo the years.
“I was afraid,” he finally admitted. “And ashamed. And I convinced myself that staying away was kinder than coming back with nothing to offer.”
Walter shook his head.
“That's the worst excuse I've ever heard.”
Daniel looked up.
“I know.”
“You could have come back poor. You could have come back embarrassed. You could have come back with nothing but the clothes on your back.”
Walter's voice broke.
“You were family, Daniel. We would have helped you.”
Daniel stared at him.
Then he began to cry.
Not quietly.
Not with the restrained sadness of a man who had spent years alone.
He cried like someone who had finally run out of reasons to keep pretending he was fine.
Walter sat beside him.
For a long time, neither man spoke.
Then Walter said, “Your son is waiting in the truck.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
“Samuel?”
Walter nodded.
Daniel stood, then sat down again.
“What do I say to him?”
Walter looked at the man he had once considered a younger brother.
“You tell him the truth. You listen to him. And you don't ask him to make you feel better about the years you missed.”
Daniel nodded.
Walter placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You can't get those years back. But you can decide what happens next.”
Daniel wiped his face.
Then he stood.
“Bring him in.”
CHAPTER EIGHT: A FATHER AND HIS SON
Samuel had been staring at the house for nearly twenty minutes.
When Walter opened the truck door, the boy looked up immediately.
“Did you find him?”
Walter nodded.
Samuel's face went pale.
“Is he angry?”
“No.”
“Does he want to see me?”
Walter crouched beside him.
“He does. But you don't have to do anything before you're ready.”
Samuel gripped his notebook.
“What if I don't know what to say?”
“Then you can start by saying hello.”
The boy took a deep breath.
He climbed out of the truck.
Emily walked beside him, holding his hand.
They approached the house slowly.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
He looked at Samuel as though he were trying to memorize every detail at once.
The boy stared back.