Chapter 15 - Leo Gets Another First Birthday
Six months later, Dad brought a tiny cupcake to my backyard.
One candle.
No investors.
No ballroom.
No cameras.
“His birthday was six months ago,” I said.
Dad shrugged.
“I didn’t like the first one.”
Leo sat in his high chair and attacked the frosting with both hands.
I laughed.
It surprised me how unfamiliar the sound felt.
Dad watched him.
Then he handed me his phone.
On the screen was the last frame from our video call that night.
Me holding Leo.
The hidden camera barely visible above my shoulder.
“I almost missed it,” he said.
“But you didn’t.”
He looked at me.
“You didn’t either.”
I thought about that.
For months, people called Dad the hero.
The retired law-enforcement father who spotted the camera.
But he had only given me information.
I was the one who picked up my son.
I was the one who walked past Ryan.
I was the one who opened the stairwell door.
May you like
Sometimes survival began with believing your own discomfort before
anyone gave you permission.
