Before he could go deeper into that spiral of self-doubt, he heard the front door open. He stood and walked into the living room just as Lainey and his son—his son!—stepped through the door.
The boy cocked his head to look at him, questions in his brown eyes. He wore a pair of jeans, sneakers and a navy-blue T-shirt with a picture of a fiery dragon splashed across the front. Finn remembered Lainey had told him before she left that Luke was into space, Legos and dragons. He looked so small. So serious. And yet, somehow, so familiar.
“Hi, Luke,” he said gently.
The boy nodded. “You were here last night.”
“Yes, I was.”
“Luke,” Lainey said, setting her purse down, “why don’t we sit on the sofa? Finn and I want to talk to you.”
He placed his backpack by the door, turned and sat next to Lainey, and Finn couldn’t help noticing the little frown on his face—the exact one Finn had seen in the mirror.
Lainey smiled and reached for their son’s hand. “Sweetheart, you asked me once if you had a dad, remember?”
Luke nodded slowly.
“I told you everyone had a dad and that yours didn’t know about you.”
The little boy bit his lip, looked at Finn and then Lainey, his brows knitting tighter.
She continued, her voice soft. “When I found out I was pregnant with you, your dad had already been deployed. I wrote letters and sent them to his mother’s house. Apparently, she never got them, so he didn’t know about you.”
Finn stepped in, heart pounding. “Luke, what your mom is saying is … I am your dad. I never got the letters, never knew.” His throat tightened. “If I had known, I would have been in your life. I promise. I would’ve been there every day.”
He wiped at his eyes and added, “But I’m here now. I would really love to get to know you.”
The silence seemed to stretch on for minutes. Finn couldn’t breathe. He was afraid that Luke was going to reject him.
Luke studied him for a long moment. “So … you’re really my dad. For real?”
Finn nodded. “For real.”
Luke glanced down at his lap, his hands twisting the hem of his T-shirt. “You’re not gonna leave again?”
The question gutted Finn. He swallowed hard, shifted forward, and knelt in front of Luke. “No, bud. I’m here. And I’m staying. I promise.”
Luke gave him a long, steady look, like he was trying to decide if Finn was telling the truth or not.
Then, slowly, he gave a tiny, shy smile. “Do you wanna see my room?”
Finn blinked, caught off guard by the offer, then nodded. “I would love that.”
Luke hopped off the couch, reached for Finn’s hand without thinking, tugging him toward the hallway. Finn looked back and noticed Lainey with tears in her eyes giving him a quiet thumbs-up.
“Okay, so this is my bed,” Luke said as they entered the small room. He pointed to a bookshelf. “Those are my Lego sets.”
Finn took it all in. Sky-blue walls, a mobile of planets hanging from the ceiling, shelves filled with books and models. A little boy’s dream bedroom.
“I like building things. Do you?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Maybe we can build something together someday.”
Finn swallowed hard. “I would like that very much.”
Luke pointed to the ceiling. “Mom put stars up there. They glow when the lights are off. You can’t see them now, but you can in the dark.”
