Chapter 4 - The Father Noah Never Knew
The DNA test was Elena’s idea.
Victor hated it.
Not because he doubted Noah was his.
Because he thought requesting proof made him look as though he doubted Elena.
“I don't need a test.”
“I do.”
Victor frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if you’re going to be in his life, I want everything legally clear.”
He studied her.
“You’re letting me into his life?”
“I said if.”
Victor nodded.
“I heard you.”
Two days later, the results arrived.
99.99 percent.
Victor read the paper twice.
Then a third time.
Noah sat across from him eating cereal.
“What does it say?”
Victor lowered the page.
“It says I’m your father.”
Noah stopped chewing.
“Oh.”
Victor almost smiled.
“Oh?”
Noah swallowed.
“I kind of knew.”
Elena blinked.
“You did?”
Noah nodded.
“We have the same eyes.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“Smart kid.”
“He gets that from me.”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
Noah giggled.
Then he asked the question Elena had feared.
“Why didn’t you live with us?”
Victor became serious.
He did not look at Elena.
He did not blame her.
Instead he said, “Because your mom was protecting you from something dangerous.”
“Were you dangerous?”
Victor paused.
“Yes.”
Elena looked at him.
Noah asked, “Are you still?”
“Sometimes.”
“To Mama?”
Victor’s answer came instantly.
“Never again.”
Elena looked away.
Over the following weeks, Victor did something she had never expected.
He waited.
He didn’t demand custody.
He didn’t move them permanently into his mansion.
He rented Elena an apartment in a secure building.
When she refused to let him pay the rent, he accepted it.
He visited Noah.
At first, supervised.
Then Elena began leaving them alone for an hour.
Victor learned dinosaurs.
He attended a kindergarten open house wearing a black suit that terrified every other father.
Noah introduced him proudly.
“This is my dad. He has tattoos.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Elena nearly laughed.
One afternoon, Noah came running from school.
“Dad!”
Victor froze every time he heard it.
Then Noah launched himself into his arms.
Victor caught him.
“Hey, little man.”
“We made family pictures.”
Noah unfolded a drawing.
Three people stood in front of a crooked house.
Elena.
Noah.
Victor.
Victor stared at it too long.
Noah became worried.
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it.”
“You look sad.”
Victor crouched.
“I missed drawing pictures like this with you.”
Noah touched his face.
“You can do them now.”
Victor closed his eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Are you gonna disappear?”
Victor looked at Elena.
“No.”
“Promise?”
Victor held out his little finger.
“Promise.”
That night Elena found Victor sitting alone in his car outside her building.
She knocked on the window.
He lowered it.
“What are you doing?”
“Thinking.”
“Dangerous hobby.”
He almost smiled.
She leaned against the door.
“What happened?”
Victor looked toward the apartment window.
“He asked if I would disappear.”
“He’s five.”
“He understands more than we think.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For making you believe running was safer than staying with me.”
Elena went quiet.
“I loved you,” he said.
“I know.”
“No. I loved you selfishly.”
She looked at him.
“I thought protecting you meant controlling everything around you.”
“You controlled me too.”
“Yes.”
He did not defend himself.
That mattered.
Victor continued.
“I can’t recover six years.”
“No.”
“But I can be different for the next sixty.”
Elena smiled faintly.
“Planning to live a long time?”
“I have a five-year-old demanding dinosaur pancakes every Sunday.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is.”
Their eyes met.
For one dangerous second, six years disappeared.
Victor looked away first.
“Good night, Elena.”
She walked toward the building.
Then stopped.
“Victor?”
He looked up.
“Noah has a school performance Friday.”
“I know.”
“He wants both of us there.”
Victor smiled.
“I’ll be there.”
Elena hesitated.
“So do I.”
Victor's smile vanished.
Not because he was unhappy.
May you like
Because those three words meant too much.
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