“I told him I would never do that to you,” I said, gesturing to the cut on my cheek, “and you can see how that turned out.”
I zeroed in on Molly, and everyone else faded to the background.
“Molly, I’m terrified of being a father. Fuck—it makes me want to throw up just standing here talking about it. But after the argument with my dad I realized something.” My voice steadied. “Whether I become the person my dad was or not is my choice.”
I took a small step closer.
“All I’ve ever known is coldness and hate. But all you know is love, kindness, patience, grace. I alreadyknow you’re going to be an incredible mother to our son. But I’m begging you, please show me how to be a good father to him too.”
Molly covered her mouth with her hand, shock flickering across her face. “Liam, I am so sorry that you had to go through that.”
“It’s still not an excuse for what I did to you. You don’t have to forgive me today—or tomorrow,” I said softly. “But please, let me try to fix this. Somehow. Some way.”
She glanced around the room, as if she were still trying to piece together everything she’d just heard. Her eyes were wet with tears. Finally, she looked toward me again.
“I need more time, Liam.”
I plodded to the front door. Never in my life had I felt like such a failure. I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
As I trudged down the porch steps, the door creaked open behind me.
“Liam, wait,” someone called out.
Jace caught up to me halfway down the driveway.
“What the hell, man? Why didn’t you ever tell me about your brother?”
I let out a humorless breath. “I don’t know. There was never a right time, I guess. What was I supposed to say? Hey, my name’s Liam, I transferred schoolsbecause the last one reminded me too much of my dead brother, wanna be friends?”
“I’m fucking serious,” Jace snapped. “You’re like a brother to me. I would’ve helped you work through that shit.”
“Was.”
He stopped short. “Was what?”
“Iwaslike your brother,” I said quietly. “Before I fucked everything up. You told me Molly was off-limits, and I didn’t listen.”
“That was high school,” he said. “I’m grown enough now to understand you’re both adults. You can sleep with whoever you want.” His jaw tightened. “But what youcan’tdo is knock my sister up and then tell her to raise the baby alone like a fucking jackass.”
I didn’t argue. I had no room to.
“I don’t know how you’re going to fix this,” he continued, kicking at the gravel beneath his boots, “but you better. Because it’s going to suck having to lose my best friend.” His eyes bore into mine. “And I can’t forgive you unless Molly does.”
He turned and walked back toward the house, leaving me standing alone in his driveway.
——————————–
I drove home in silence, nothing but the sound of rushing wind and rubber against the hard asphalt. Iwould do whatever it took to get Molly to forgive me, but no amount of flowers or chocolates or I’m-a-douchebag cards was going to do it. I had to prove that I was sorry. I had to show up for her the way I didn’t in the beginning.
As I drove, I thought about all the things Molly loved: her chickens, reading, being in the sunshine, baking, calm mornings, and living life carefree. She knew how to take life by the horns and not let go. She was independent, determined, and perfect in every way—and if our son grew up to be just like her, that would be perfectly fine with me.
Later that night, I dreamed about my brother and I running around our house as toddlers, before the world had turned so cruel. We raced through the kitchen while our mom stood at the counter, mixing cookie batter and laughing at us as we giggled uncontrollably. We tore into our rooms, trotting on our stick horses, pretending we were cowboys riding toward some grand adventure.
In the dream, everything felt warm and safe. The house smelled like sugar and vanilla, and sunlight spilled through the windows, catching dust in the air. Noah was always just a few steps ahead of me, turning back to make sure I was still following him, like he always had. We shouted nonsense words, convinced they were battle cries and the world was ours to conquer. There was no yelling, no fear—just laughter.Just us. Untouched by everything that would come later.
When I woke the next morning, I knew exactly what I’d do to convince Molly that I’d never let her down again.
Chapter 13 – Liam
