After the twins were born, childcare costs made full-time work impossible.
She collected cans and bottles for extra money.
The twins’ names were Mason and Luke.
I read those names twice.
Then a third time.
“Birth certificates?” I asked.
“Father section is blank.”
Something in me collapsed.
There are moments when regret is an emotion.
And there are moments when it becomes physical.
This was the second kind.
I had sons.
Two sons.
While I had been attending charity dinners with Serena, Laura had been waking up every two hours to feed them.
While I had been flying Serena to Miami, Laura had been calculating whether diapers or groceries mattered more that week.
While Serena and I had been choosing wedding venues, my children were sleeping in secondhand cribs above a laundromat.
Because I had never listened.
“I’m going there.”
“No,” Marcus said.
“What?”
“Don’t.”
“They’re my children.”
“You don’t know that legally yet.”
“I know what I saw.”
“Grant, listen to me. For once, make this about Laura instead of about how you feel.”