“I failed you both.

I’m not asking you to forget that, but I want to be a father to him now.”

“You are his father,” I said plainly.

“That doesn’t mean we’re moving back into a room together, Brandon.

But Theodore will know who you are, and he’ll know you stayed.”

“That’s fair,” Brandon said, smoothing the blue wool blanket over the baby’s knees.

“That’s more than I had any right to ask for.”