Life after Goodbye novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The First Week

Calla's POV

On the fourth day home, my father came up the stairs with a paper bag of soup and a knitted hat.

He stopped in the doorway of Cormac's apartment and did not come in.

"Is it all right?" he said.

"Come in, Dad."

I was on the sofa with Flora asleep on my chest, in a blanket the bakery owner had made, and I had not slept more than three hours in a row since Friday.

He crossed the room in his socks, because he had taken off his shoes at the door without being asked.

He stood over us for a long time.

"Can I..."

"Sit first."

He sat on the edge of the armchair, and I laid her in his arms.

She weighed seven pounds and two ounces, and she had a full head of dark hair and a furious little frown.

My father held her with both arms and did not move.

"She has your mother's hands," he said.

"I know."

"Look at the fingers." He turned one tiny palm up with the tip of his thumb. "Long. Flora always said she had a pianist's hands, and she couldn't play a note."

I waited.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"You just said it."

His face went still.

"Dad. She's Flora."

He didn't make a sound for a moment.

Then his shoulders began to shake, and he bent over the blanket and wept quietly into the top of her head, without any shame at all.

"I haven't said it out loud in my own house in nine years," he said into her hair. "Your brother couldn't bear it. I let him decide, and I told myself that was kindness."

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