Chapter 7
Daniel tried to step into the ICU immediately.
Dr. Marsh blocked him with her body.
“Not now.”
“I’m his father.”
Claire almost laughed.
The title sounded strange in his mouth after what he had done with it.
Dr. Marsh said, “His care team is working. You will wait here.”
Daniel turned to Claire.
“Tell her.”
Claire stared at him.
“Tell her what?”
“That I should be in there.”
Claire’s face went still.
He was still asking her to help him enter rooms.
After leaving her alone at the most important door.
“No.”
The word came out small.
But it landed hard.
Daniel’s face changed.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
Vanessa appeared at the far end of the hallway, Lily beside her with a blanket around her shoulders.
Lily looked scared.
Claire softened for the child despite everything.
Lily had done nothing wrong.
She was sick too.
She needed care too.
But she had been chosen in a moment Noah needed his father.
That truth sat between the adults like something alive.
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Claire shook her head once.
Not now.
Vanessa stopped.
For once, she seemed to understand that her tears did not belong at the center.
Daniel looked from Vanessa to Claire, then back to the ICU doors.
His face crumpled.
“I didn’t know.”
Claire whispered, “You didn’t look.”
That was worse than not knowing.
Daniel had not been ignorant.
He had been busy choosing not to see.
Dr. Marsh looked at a nurse.
“Call social work for family support.”
Daniel flinched.
Claire did not.
May you like
Support sounded like something she should have asked for a long time ago.
Read the full story 👉 Daniel wanted the privileges of fatherhood after ignoring the responsibility, but Claire finally said no.
