For judgment.
For correction.
For that quiet disappointment he had learned to expect.
But it didn’t come.
Rose smiled.
“That felt different, didn’t it?”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Yeah…”
Liam whispered, “It wasn’t scary.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
That sentence—
hit harder than anything else.
It wasn’t scary.
When had the world become something his children were afraid to touch?
“Can we do another one?” Ethan asked.
Rose glanced at Nathaniel.
Not asking permission.
Just… acknowledging him.
Nathaniel swallowed and gave a small nod.
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