Chapter 10 - David Refuses to Become Robert’s Father
David remained nearby while the investigations continued.
Robert eventually asked him to dinner.
Just the two of them.
David arrived early.
Robert hated that he noticed similarities.
The way David folded his napkin.
The way he tapped two fingers against the table while thinking.
Biology suddenly felt loud.
Robert asked:
“Why didn’t you fight harder for Anna?”
David answered:
“Cowardice.”
No excuse.
No heroic story.
“Why didn’t you come for me?”
“I didn’t know you were mine until years later.”
“When?”
“When Charles sent me the DNA report.”
Robert stared.
Charles had known for decades.
David explained that Charles discovered the truth after Robert needed
blood testing as a teenager.
Charles confronted Margaret.
Then secretly tested paternity.
He later contacted David.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Charles asked for time.”
“And you gave him thirty years?”
David looked down.
“Yes.”
Robert’s anger rose.
“So all three of you decided my identity belonged to you.”
“Yes.”
David’s honesty made the answer harder, not easier.
Then he said:
“I’m not asking you to call me Dad.”
“Good.”
“Charles raised you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m your biological father. That fact matters if you want it to. It
doesn’t give me a role I didn’t earn.”
Robert looked at him.
That was the first thing David said that made a future relationship seem
possible.
They began slowly.
Coffee.
Occasional phone calls.
No replacement.
No rewriting Charles out of family history.
When Sophie later asked who David was, Robert answered:
“He’s my biological father.”
She frowned.
“But Great-Grandpa Charles was your dad.”
Robert smiled.
“Yes.”
Sophie considered.
“You have too many dads.”
David laughed from across the room.
May you like
Robert did too.
For the first time, biology felt less like a threat.
