CHAPTER 2 — “THE YEARS THAT NEVER HEALED”
The reunion didn’t fix anything.
It only revealed how much had been broken.
The next morning, Nora stood in the small kitchen staring at a stove that hadn’t worked in months. Liam sat silently at the table. The twins didn’t speak. Jonah kept watching the door like the man might disappear again if he blinked too long.
Outside, the veteran stayed.
He didn’t leave.
He just stood in the cold like he was afraid movement would ruin the moment he’d just found.
When Nora finally stepped out, her voice was flat.
“You should’ve stayed gone.”
The man didn’t react.
“I tried,” he said. “I didn’t know where you were.”
A long pause.
Liam came out behind her.
“You left,” Liam said quietly. “We stopped waiting.”
That hit harder than anger.
The man lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
Jonah tugged his sleeve.
“Are you my dad?”
Silence.
Not denial.
Not confirmation.
Just the weight of everything unsaid.
Finally, he crouched.
“I don’t know if I deserve that word,” he said.
Nora’s breath tightened.
Because part of her already knew—
he was telling the truth.
That night, he didn’t leave.
He sat outside the building on broken concrete, like a guard with no assignment.
And for the first time in years…
someone stayed awake to make sure they were safe.
But safety never lasts long in Millhaven.
Because just after midnight…
May you like
a black car pulled up across the street.
And someone inside was watching.
