Chapter 7 - The Moon Traveler
One year later, Gabriel Moretti stood in the same sunroom where everything had changed.
There were still cameras.
But fewer.
There were still guards.
But they stayed outside.
There were still threats in Gabriel’s world.
But his daughters no longer lived inside them.
“Daddy!”
Gabriel turned.
Claire came running.
Running.
Her gait was slightly uneven, but she didn’t care.
Neither did Gabriel.
She launched herself into his arms.
“You’re late!”
“By four minutes.”
“Late.”
“I apologize.”
Sophie appeared behind her.
“She practiced saying that.”
“I noticed.”
The front door opened downstairs.
Claire froze.
Then screamed.
“HANNAH!”
She raced from the room.
Gabriel followed more slowly.
Hannah stood in the foyer with a suitcase.
Claire wrapped herself around her legs.
Sophie joined immediately.
Hannah laughed.
“My goodness. You two grew.”
“I run now!” Claire announced.
“I can see that.”
“And Daddy cooks.”
Hannah looked at Gabriel.
“That I need to see.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I make pancakes.”
Sophie whispered loudly, “They’re bad.”
“Traitor.”
Everyone laughed.
Later that evening, Hannah found Gabriel in the sunroom.
He was holding something.
A paper moon.
The same one.
Wrinkled now.
Faded.
“You kept it?” she asked.
Gabriel handed it to her.
“It cost less than anything else in this house.”
Hannah smiled.
“And somehow it became the most valuable.”
“Yes.”
They watched Claire chase Sophie across the lawn.
No wheelchair.
No chair to hold.
No frightened adults rushing behind her.
Just two children running.
Hannah looked at Gabriel.
“You changed.”
“I had aggressive teachers.”
“Claire?”
“Mostly.”
“And me?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Especially you.”
Hannah became quiet.
Gabriel continued.
“I spent most of my life believing love gave people leverage over you.”
“And now?”
“Now I think refusing to love anyone gives fear leverage over everything.”
Hannah smiled.
“That almost sounded wise.”
“I’ve had a year to prepare it.”
She laughed.
Gabriel reached for her hand.
Then stopped.
The old Gabriel would have simply taken it.
This Gabriel waited.
Hannah noticed.
She placed her hand in his.
Gabriel smiled.
Outside, Claire suddenly fell.
Gabriel instinctively moved toward the door.
Then stopped.
Claire sat on the grass.
Sophie looked at her.
Hannah squeezed Gabriel’s hand.
Claire pushed herself back up.
Then started running again.
Gabriel exhaled.
“You still hate that part,” Hannah said.
“Every time.”
“You always will.”
“Probably.”
Claire ran toward the window.
She pressed both hands against the glass.
“Daddy!”
Gabriel opened the door.
“What?”
“Watch!”
Claire ran across the lawn.
Fast.
Free.
Fearless.
Gabriel stood beside Hannah and watched.
For years, he had spent millions trying to give his daughter stronger legs.
Doctors gave her treatment.
Specialists gave her exercises.
Gabriel gave her protection.
But Hannah Mercer had given Claire the one thing none of them realized she needed most.
Permission to fall.
May you like
And somehow, while teaching a three-year-old girl how to stand on her own—
she had taught her father the same thing.
