The words open something in me I didn’t know was still locked.
I’ve spent my whole life pretending I don’t care. Pretending a missing father is a fact, not a wound. Biology doesn't matter if a man never shows up. Pretending I don’t feel the empty chair at every school event, every birthday, every time Jeremy sneered that maybe women in my family just had a talent for making men leave.
And now I’m standing in Hell, Kentucky, holding my son, looking at a man who may be my brother.
A brother.
I don’t know what to do with that.
Sophie comes closer, slow enough not to spook me. “What’s your name?”
“Amelia.”
Her expression shifts. Not pity. Something warmer and more painful. “Amelia Bell?”
“Amelia Welles,” I say before I can stop myself.
Legend’s jaw tightens.
The name sounds reckless coming out of my mouth. But it’s the name my mother gave me. The one I kept despite Jeremy’s protests.
I have no proof in my hand. No DNA test. No letter from the grave. Just my father’s name, my mother’s stories, my own face, and a desperate hope that carried me across Kentucky with a child and a truck full of broken things.
“I know I should’ve called,” I say quickly. “Or written. Or done this differently. I know showing up like this is insane. Iwasn’t trying to ambush anyone. I just…” I stop, swallow, and lift my chin because I can’t bear to beg while this many people are watching. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
The last sentence falls out naked anyway.
I hate it.
I hate every man in the yard for hearing it.
I hate Jeremy for making it true.
Legend’s eyes flick to my bare ring finger, then to the pale mark there.
Sophie sees it too.
So does Derby.
The air changes again, this time darker.
“Where’s your husband?” Legend asks.
My stomach drops.
August’s arms tighten around my neck.
I force my face not to flinch and fail. I know I fail because Derby’s expression goes flat in a way that makes him look suddenly less amused and more dangerous.
“Not here,” I say.
“That wasn’t the question.”
“No,” Sophie says softly, still looking at me. “But it may be all she can answer right now.”
Legend looks at Sophie.
Something silent passes between them. Marriage, maybe. War. Both.