“Why didn’t you ask me?”
She stared at him.
“You wouldn’t have helped.”
Daniel looked at her in disbelief.
“I would have.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“You didn’t even come looking for us.”
That hurt because it was true.
Daniel had assumed Emily wanted nothing to do with him.
He had never investigated.
Never searched.
Never asked.
He simply moved on.
Or convinced himself he had.
Then Noah suddenly coughed.
Emily rushed toward him.
Daniel noticed how carefully she helped her son breathe.
He saw the exhaustion in her face.
The years of sacrifice.
The nights she had spent worrying.
…The meals she had probably skipped so Noah could eat.
And suddenly Daniel understood something.
Emily hadn’t written the letter because she wanted his money.
She had written it because Noah’s condition had become worse.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Emily whispered.
