That answer hurt him more than if she had said yes.
For the next six weeks, Claire stayed away from the penthouse.
Sebastian followed the boundaries Diana established.
At first, restraint felt unnatural to him.
His entire life had trained him to solve problems by acting faster, calling higher, paying more, pushing harder.
Now every meaningful choice required him to do the opposite.
He wrote letters and gave them to Diana without asking whether Claire had read them.
He sent information about insurance and medical coverage through counsel without attaching personal messages.
When Claire requested several boxes from the penthouse, he had Mrs.
Bell supervise the packing and did not appear.
He did not contact Natalie.
The silence gave him time to see how many of his excuses had depended on noise.
Claire, meanwhile, prepared for Audrey.
She rented a quiet apartment with enough room for a crib and editing desk.
Diana helped with the legal details.
Griffin’s work was finished; Claire thanked him and closed the folder.
For the first time in months, she slept through most nights.
She was still grieving.
Clarity had not made betrayal painless.
There were mornings when she woke with the instinct to tell Sebastian something about the baby before remembering that she no longer trusted the man who would receive the message.
There were evenings when she stood over Audrey’s tiny folded clothes and mourned the version of motherhood she thought she would have.
But she never confused grief with regret.
She had left because staying had required her to become smaller every day.
Two weeks before her due date, she asked Diana for Sebastian’s letters.
There were nine.
Claire read them in one sitting.
The first was full of explanation.
Pressure.
Distance.
Confusion.
Weakness.
She set it aside.
The second tried less hard to explain.
By the fifth, Sebastian had stopped writing about why he had done what he did and started writing about what Claire had endured while he did it.
The ninth letter was only one page.
He wrote that he finally understood apologies were not negotiations.
He said he would not ask her to return.
He would not ask her to forgive him before she was ready, or ever.
He wanted to be Audrey’s father in whatever lawful, respectful way Claire believed was safe and reasonable.
At the bottom he wrote one final sentence.
I kept thinking providing everything meant I was giving you everything, and I see now how little of myself I actually gave.
Claire folded the letter.
She did not call him.
But she did not throw it away.
Audrey was born on a snowy January morning.
Sebastian was not in the delivery room.
That was Claire’s choice.
Diana notified him after the birth.
Healthy girl.
Healthy mother.
Sebastian read the message alone in the penthouse kitchen.
He sat down before his knees decided for him.
For nearly an hour he did nothing but stare at the marble counter where Claire used to leave cups of tea going cold.
Three days later, Claire agreed to let him meet Audrey.
The visit took place in Claire’s apartment.
Diana was there at first, then stepped into the next room when Claire nodded.
