Chapter 16
Elsie stopped calling Julian Mr. Julian within a month.
Not because anyone corrected her.
Because nobody asked her to anymore.
The first few times she called him Dad in front of guests, he visibly tensed.
Then he noticed himself doing it.
That mattered.
Habits reveal beliefs before words do.
One evening, I watched him help Elsie put on her cardigan before a family dinner.
She held another paper flower.
Blue this time.
“For you.”
Julian took it immediately.
“Thank you.”
No glance around.
No checking who watched.
Small thing.
Huge change.
Later, he came to sit beside me.
“I still think about Cole.”
“Of course.”
“I lost a lot.”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
He almost smiled.
“You’re not going to tell me I gained something better?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
“You lost access. Influence. A relationship. Maybe more.”
He waited.
I continued.
“And you nearly lost your daughter.”
Silence.
“Do not make her responsible for making the losses feel worth it.”
His expression changed.
Good.
That was important.
Elsie was not a prize that compensated for failed ambition.
She was a child.
Separate.
Whole.
Worth protecting without being turned into moral payment.
Julian nodded.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Not completely.”
Better answer.
Across the room, Elsie laughed while showing Mason—no, there was no Mason here—one of the bodyguards how to fold paper petals.
Julian watched.
May you like
This time, he did not look ashamed of being recognized as her father.
He looked afraid of how close he came to losing the right to be called one.
