“Not marriage.”
It hurt to say.
Matthew’s face did not change.
“I came thinking that.”
“I know.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I want to see the kids.”
He nodded once.
“I want to be their mother again.”
Matthew’s eyes sharpened.
“You don’t become their mother again because you say it.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire hesitated.
“I show up.”
“For how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
“What if Sophie doesn’t want to see you?”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“Then I don’t force her.”
“What if Caleb cries when you hold him?”
“I give him back.”
“What if he calls Abby when he’s scared instead of you?”
Claire looked down.
“I accept it.”
“What if you never get back what you had?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Then I build whatever they’re willing to have with me.”
Matthew sat still.
That answer was different from the woman who had appeared with a suitcase the previous morning.
He noticed.
He did not reward it.
“Before anything happens,” he said, “you talk to Helen.”
“Your lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to need my own.”
“You should.”
“You’re not going to keep me from them?”
“I’m going to protect them.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It is my answer.”
Claire nodded.
Matthew continued.
“I also want a child therapist involved before Sophie sees you.”
Claire’s face tightened instinctively.
He saw it.
She stopped herself.
“Okay.”
“Not because Sophie is broken.”
“I didn’t think that.”
“She has spent eighteen months adapting. I’m not letting adults improvise with that.”
“Okay.”
“And first visit is supervised.”
“With you?”
“Probably therapist’s office or another agreed setting.”
Claire swallowed.
“Okay.”
Matthew looked at her.
“You can disagree.”
“I do.”
“With what?”
“Every part of me wants to walk into the house and hug them.”
“That isn’t the same as disagreeing.”
“No.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
“I think you’re right.”
Matthew looked into his coffee.
For the first time since her return, his shoulders seemed to lower slightly.
Not forgiveness.
Maybe simply less resistance.
Claire asked:
“Can I ask something?”
“Yes.”
“Do they have pictures of me?”
Matthew’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Sophie has one in a box in her room.”
“A box?”
“She put it there.”
Claire looked down.
“Caleb?”
“There are family albums.”
“Does he know who I am?”
“He knows the word Mommy.”
Her heart jumped.
Matthew continued.
“He knows there is a woman in pictures who is his mother.”
Claire’s hope collapsed into something more painful.
“Does he ask?”
“No.”
The answer was worse than anger.
Claire met attorney Susan Delaney two days later.
Susan was in her fifties and did not soften legal reality.
“You have parental rights,” she explained. “The divorce did not terminate those. But the current custody order gives your former husband sole legal and physical custody.”