Chapter 19 - Thirty Months
The first month was the hardest.
Lucas woke at night.
He stopped throwing things.
Instead, he asked questions.
What if Daddy forgets us?
What if prison changes him?
What if Natalie gets married and leaves?
What if Evelyn gets old?
Evelyn objected strongly to the last question.
“I am already old.”
Lucas looked horrified.
Natalie laughed.
They developed routines.
Sunday pancakes.
Tuesday video calls with Daniel.
Thursday letters.
Friday movie night.
Lucas began attending school regularly.
At first he hit another child who mocked his father.
Natalie did not excuse it.
Daniel did not either.
During their next call, Daniel said.
“You can be angry.”
Lucas stared at the screen.
“But you can't make someone else hurt because you're hurting.”
The words sounded familiar.
Lucas looked toward Natalie.
“She says that.”
“I know.”
“Do you copy her?”
Daniel smiled.
“Often.”
Six months passed.
Then twelve.
Daniel became different in ways no headline could measure.
He read every book Lucas mentioned.
He wrote letters by hand.
He remembered school projects.
He asked questions and waited for answers.
He learned that Lucas hated peas.
Loved astronomy.
Feared thunderstorms.
Could not sleep without the hallway light on.
Basic things a father should have known years earlier.
Natalie saw the change.
So did Lucas.
On one visit, Lucas pressed both palms against the glass.
Daniel matched them from the other side.
“When are you coming home?”
“Fourteen more months.”
Lucas sighed dramatically.
“That's too many.”
“I agree.”
Natalie sat behind him.
Daniel looked at her.
Their eyes met.
Nothing between them had been named.
Not yet.
It did not need to be.
The important relationship was still father and son.
Everything else could wait.
One year before Daniel's release, Evelyn received a letter.
No return address.
Inside was a single photograph.
Caroline.
Young.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Evelyn beneath a maple tree.
On the back Caroline had written something years earlier.
If Daniel ever learns that home is people instead of walls, maybe there is hope for him.
Evelyn showed Natalie.
Neither told Daniel.
May you like
Not yet.
They saved it for the day he came home.
