Chapter 13 - THE FIRST TIME HELENA HELD HER GRANDDAUGHTERHelena stood beside the hospital bed.
Maren watched her carefully.
“Would you like to hold her?”
Helena's eyes filled with tears.
“If you'll let me.”
Maren nodded.
Helena took Grace into her arms.
For several seconds she couldn't speak.
Then the baby opened her eyes.
Helena whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
Maren looked at her.
Helena continued.
“Not just for the dinner.”
Her voice broke.
“For all of it.”
Graham stood beside the window.
He had spent his whole life waiting for those words.
Yet hearing them didn't magically erase anything.
“I can't forget,” he said.
Helena nodded.
“I know.”
“I can't pretend nothing happened.”
“I know.”
“But maybe…”
He looked at his daughter.
“Maybe we can stop hurting each other.”
Helena cried.
“I would like that.”
It wasn't forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
Maren looked at her husband.
For the first time, Graham wasn't the little boy trying to earn his mother's love.
He was a father.
May you like
A husband.
A man choosing what kind of family he wanted to build.
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