The boy had his exact square jaw, his dark, wavy hair, and the same determined, unyielding brown eyes that used to stare down long, empty highways.
Tears finally spilled over Jax’s cheeks, falling onto his leather vest—a sight that none of the hardened bikers in the room had ever witnessed in all their years on the road.
“I… I ain’t the man your mom told you about, kid,” Jax whispered, his voice cracking completely.
“I didn’t leave because the road called me. I left because I was a coward. I was terrified I’d mess you up, so I ran away like a thief in the night. Your mom… she was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I threw it all away.”
Caleb took a small step forward, resting his hand on the counter right next to Jax’s massive wrist.
“Mom said you weren’t perfect,” Caleb murmured softly.
“She said everybody gets scared sometimes. But she told me that the way you held me in that hospital was the gentlest thing she ever saw. I don’t care about the years you missed, Jax. I just didn’t want to grow up without ever knowing my dad.”
Martha wiped a tear from her own eye, quietly placing a cold glass of chocolate milk on the counter for Caleb while offering Jax a small, encouraging nod.
Jax slid off his stool, his knees nearly giving out beneath his massive frame, and dropped down to one knee so he was looking directly into his son’s eyes.
Without another word, Jax pulled the eight-year-old boy into a tight, fierce hug.
His heavy leather vest creaked as he wrapped his thick arms around Caleb’s small shoulders, burying his face in the boy’s dark hair while his chest heaved with heavy, quiet sobs. The weight of eight wasted years, of cold nights on the road, and of endless self-loathing seemed to shatter and wash away in the warm air of the diner.
“I’m so sorry, Caleb,” Jax whispered into his son’s hair, holding him as if he were the most precious thing in the universe.
“I’m so damn sorry I wasn’t there for your first steps, your birthdays, or your tough days. But I swear on my life, I am done running. I’m right here now, if you’ll let me try to be your dad.”