Chapter 13 - Victor Wasn’t Waiting to Become Dad
Victor visited our house six months later.
He asked permission first.
That alone distinguished him from Cornelius.
Ethan knew only a simple version.
“Dad has an uncle we haven’t seen much.”
Victor arrived with no presents except a book about insects.
Ethan immediately liked him.
“Do you know beetles?”
“A little.”
“I know a lot.”
“That sounds useful.”
They disappeared into the backyard within twenty minutes.
Daniel stood at the kitchen window.
“This is weird.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think he expects me to call him Dad?”
“Ask him.”
So Daniel did.
Victor nearly choked on coffee.
“No.”
Daniel laughed for the first time all afternoon.
Victor became serious.
“Cornelius raised you.”
“He also hurt me.”
“Both can be true.”
Daniel nodded.
Victor continued:
“I gave your parents something they needed.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t raise you. I didn’t stay up with you sick. I didn’t teach you to drive. I don’t get to arrive thirty-six years late and collect a title.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What do you want?”
Victor looked toward Ethan.
“To know you if you want me to.”
Nothing more.
That simplicity frightened Daniel more than pressure would have.
Relationships built without obligation require active choice.
Nobody could hide behind biology anymore.
They began slowly.
Occasional calls.
Coffee.
A baseball game.
Victor told stories about Evelyn that Cornelius never shared.
Daniel told him about work.
May you like
Neither pretended the missing decades could be repaired with one holiday dinner.
That restraint made possibility believable.
