Chapter 9 - The Question of Forgiveness
Daniel was nearly one year old when Sebastian took Rowan and him to the park.
It was spring.
The trees were beginning to bloom, and Daniel sat on a blanket in the grass, laughing as pigeons moved around him.
Sebastian watched his son with a look Rowan had once prayed to see.
Not pride.
Not ownership.
Wonder.
“You are good with him,” she said.
Sebastian looked at her.
“I am trying.”
“I know.”
He hesitated.
“Do you still hate me?”
Rowan looked out at the trees.
“I hated you for a long time.”
“I deserved it.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Then Rowan continued.
“But hate takes too much energy. And Daniel deserves parents who are not always living inside an old wound.”
Sebastian’s eyes filled.
“I do not expect you to come back.”
“Good.”
“I only want to be someone you can trust.”
Rowan looked at him.
“That takes time.”
“I have time.”
She smiled faintly.
“Do you?”
Sebastian thought about the company, the board, the investors, and the empire he once believed mattered more than anything.
Then he looked at Daniel reaching for a flower.
“Yes,” he said. “Now I do.”
Rowan did not answer.
But when Daniel crawled toward Sebastian, Rowan did not stop him.
Sebastian lifted his son into the air.
Daniel laughed.
And Rowan felt something inside her begin to heal.
May you like
Not because the past had become acceptable.
But because the future no longer had to be controlled by it.
