I also began arranging appropriate financial support through counsel, not as a favor but as a responsibility that should never have depended on whether Savannah allowed me into her home.

Lucas asked me a question before we left.

“If the children don’t want to call you Dad, what will you do?”

“Answer to Gabriel,” I said.

“And if they do?”

“Ask Savannah and you how to handle it without confusing them.”

For the first time, he offered me something resembling a smile.

Over the next months, visits grew slowly.