Chapter 14 - Roderick and Niles
Niles did not stop loving his father.
That made my anger at Roderick complicated.
Every morning:
“Daddy pancakes.”
Every night:
“Daddy story.”
Children do not suspend attachment while adults evaluate betrayal.
Roderick leaned into fatherhood.
Not performatively.
More present.
He reduced late corporate nights during crisis.
Not quit company.
One afternoon Niles asked:
“Did Daddy think not Daddy?”
Roderick froze.
Dr. Celia had prepared us.
He sat on floor.
“For a short time, Grandma showed me a paper that confused me.”
“Did you believe?”
“I was scared it might mean something.”
Niles’s eyes filled.
Roderick continued immediately:
“I should have talked to Mommy and gotten the right information. I did not stop being your dad.”
“But DNA?”
“We did the right test.”
“And?”
“You are biologically my son.”
Niles nodded.
Then:
“If not?”
I stopped breathing.
Roderick did too.
Niles asked again.
“If paper said not?”
There.
The question beneath everything.
Roderick answered:
“I would still love you. We would have had adult things to understand, but you would still be the child I have raised and loved your whole life.”
Good.
No legal promise he could not guarantee.
Then Niles:
“Trust?”
I almost laughed.
Roderick said:
“That would have been adult paperwork too.”
“Boring.”
“Yes.”
Then Niles climbed into his lap.
The bond survived.
May you like
Our marriage?
More complicated.
