Robert had looked at him, his eyes glassy, and spoken words James would never forget. “I saw my mother today. After all these years, she wants to talk. But she gave me up, James. Dumped me in foster care like I was nothing.”
James had listened, stunned, as his father unraveled a story he’d kept hidden. “I was born to a Black man. My mother was a translator at an embassy. Fell for some African diplomat. Got pregnant. But he left her, went back to his country. She was stuck with me, and the neighbors never let her forget it. Called her names, made her life hell.”
Robert’s voice had cracked. “I was in her way. She wanted to remarry, start over. So she chose. Sent me to foster care and married some politician. While they were living it up, I was in a group home, crying myself to sleep.”
James had been too young to fully grasp it, but the story haunted him. His father didn’t look Black—maybe a bit darker, with features some mistook for Romani—but nothing that stood out. James had convinced himself it was a drunken exaggeration. Now, holding Ethan, he knew it was true.
He looked at his son, the tiny fingers curling around his thumb, and felt a resolve settle in his chest. He wouldn’t repeat his grandmother’s mistake. Ethan was his, no matter what. “Hey there, Ethan,” he whispered, kissing his forehead. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
Tears pricked his eyes, but he blinked them back. Susan, Kelly, and Linda exchanged relieved glances. The tension in the room dissolved, replaced by a quiet hope. James carried Ethan to Emma’s bedside, sitting beside her. She reached for his hand, her eyes searching his face.
“He’s perfect,” she said, her voice soft but certain.
“He is,” James agreed, squeezing her hand. In that moment, they weren’t just a couple facing an unexpected twist. They were a family, bound by love and a shared promise to face whatever came next.
The hospital room, with its faded curtains and humming machines, felt like a sacred space. Outside, the Florida sun dipped toward the horizon, casting a golden glow over the small town. The road to Miami had led them somewhere entirely different, but as James and Emma looked at their son, they knew they were exactly where they were meant to be.