“But there's something else you should know.”
Marcus looked up.
Sarah's expression had changed.
“Gary didn't take Chloe because of you. At least, I don't think he did. He couldn't have known she'd run into this supermarket and choose you.”
“Choose me?”
Chloe nodded earnestly.
“You looked like nobody could push you over.”
Despite everything, Marcus laughed.
It was short and cracked at the edges, but genuine.
Sarah smiled weakly.
“Gary recognized you from photographs after he entered the store. That's how he knew who you were.”
Marcus glanced toward the parking lot.
“Then what did he want?”
Sarah's face tightened.
“To make me talk to him. I ended our relationship three months ago. He kept telling me we could fix everything if I'd give him one more chance. I kept saying no.”
Marcus's jaw hardened.
“He used Chloe to force you into a conversation?”
Sarah nodded.
“That's what police believe.”
Marcus looked toward the child.
She was tracing the stitching on his vest.
His anger rose.
Then he forced it down.
Chloe did not need another angry man filling the room.
She needed calm.
So Marcus breathed until his fists loosened.
“What happens now?”
“We go home,” Sarah said. “We cooperate with the officers. We take this one day at a time.”
Marcus nodded.
It was reasonable.
Responsible.
And somehow unbearable.
Because he had only just found Chloe.
The idea of watching her walk away made something inside him panic.
He had no right to say that.
He was a stranger to her.
Blood did not automatically make someone family.
Sarah seemed to read his thoughts.
“You can come with us.”
Marcus blinked.
“Sarah—”
“Not because you saved her.”
She looked down at Evan's unopened letter in his hands.
“Because maybe we've all lost enough time.”
Outside, afternoon sunlight spilled across the supermarket parking lot.
Marcus walked beside Sarah and Chloe.
At Sarah's car, Chloe suddenly stopped.
“Marcus?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you really my grandpa?”
He looked at Sarah.
She nodded.
Marcus crouched again.
“If your mom says Evan was your dad, then yes.”
Chloe considered the answer with grave seriousness.
Then she smiled.
“Cool.”
Marcus laughed again.
This time it didn't hurt.
Sarah opened the car door.
Before Chloe climbed inside, she hugged Marcus unexpectedly around the neck.