Page 225 of Say My Name

“She isn’t here because she’s pregnant or because that contract trapped her in an arrangement she couldn’t end. And you aren’t playing house because you feel obligated.”

“No.”

“She trusts you.” He says it like a verdict he didn’t expect to deliver.

The words settle heavily in my chest. “I know.”

“She didn’t do that for a long time.”

“I know that too.”

Cliff turns his glass between his palms. “I was afraid she’d lose herself again. Daniel made every compromise sound reasonable until she barely recognized her own life.”

“I won’t pretend I never try to manage things for her. I do. She tells me when I’m doing it, and I listen.”

“I saw that.”

“She’s also learning she can ask me for something without owing me.”

“I saw that too.” He studies me. “What are you promising her?”

“That I’ll keep choosing her.”

“She needs more than that.”

“It needs to be.” I set down my glass, wanting no barrier between us for this. “I’m not promising a perfect relationship. We’ll disagree. I’ll handle things badly sometimes, and so will she. I can promise I’ll tell her the truth, listen when I’m wrong, and stay long enough to repair what I can.”

“And the baby?”

“I’ll show up every day. I’ll change diapers, attend appointments, learn what I don’t know, and be there when both of them are furious with me.”

“You know she’ll be furious with you.”

“She already has significant experience.”

Cliff takes a drink, his eyes fixed on me over the rim of the glass. “Do not give her a reason to regret choosing you.”

“I’ll never use what she trusts me with to control her. I won’t punish her for needing me, and I won’t ask her to become less so I can feel like more.”

His eyes remain on mine for several seconds.

Then he exhales. “Damn it.”

“What?”

“I know you won’t.”

It’s not forgiveness, but it’s a truce—more than I’d hoped for today.

Cliff raises his glass.

“Congratulations on the baby.”

It’s a start.

CHAPTER 27

Elena