Chapter 8: The Door Natalie Opened

The next morning, Liam gave me the address, and John drove while I held Livia’s letter like it was the only map I had left… Continue Reading ⬇️

Natalie opened the door before I could knock twice.

“You knew,” I said.

“Yes.”

Old anger rose in me. “You had no right.”

Her eyes hardened. “Your daughter was eighteen, pregnant, and crying on my porch. I had every reason to close the door because of you. But she isn’t you. So I opened it.”

Mitchell appeared behind her with a baby bottle in his hand. For eleven months, I had made him the villain. He only looked tired.

“I asked her to call you,” he said.

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because I married Livia,” he answered. “I don’t make choices for her.”

Then a baby cried inside.

Livia stepped into the hallway, thinner, older, holding a baby wrapped in yellow.

“Please don’t yell,” she said.

Those three words did more damage than any accusation ever could. Continue Reading ⬇️