Page 60 of The Locksmith's Promise

Lost in the past, I didn’t register Maggie and Corwin standing on the driveway until Corwin called my name.

“Dad!”

My head shot up so fast, I gave myself whiplash. My eyes met Corwin’s wide, shocked, ones immediately.

My palm slapped down on the hood of my truck.

“Sorry!” He slapped his hands on top of his head, jerking poor Jeff’s leash and making her yelp. “It just came out!”

“I’m okay with that,” I rasped, nearly choking on the lump in my throat.

Afraid to look at Maggie, I pinned my attention on my son and made sure he heard me clearly.

“I’m 100% okay with that. And if you need to call me Bax for a while longer, that’s okay, too.”

“But Dad is good,” Maggie murmured, running her hand over Cor’s tawny head. “After all, he is your dad. And it’s not his fault he didn’t know about you.”

Grace.

I didn’t deserve it, I never had, but she extended it always.

Until I screwed up so bad she couldn’t.

I swallowed my regret, pushing the past aside to make room for the joy of the present, because my son had just called me dad for the first time.

About ten years later than most kids, but we got there.

His next words near cut my legs out from under me.

“Do you think of me as your son?”

“God, yes,” I exclaimed roughly, my knees going weak. “From the moment I first saw you.”

Not for a single second did I want him to doubt his place in my heart and in my life.

“You stepped back,” he countered. “When you first realized who I was, you stepped back.”

This was not a conversation I ever imagined having, especially not separated by the length of Keith and Laurie’s driveway.

“He was shocked, Cor,” Maggie answered softly. “And I’m guessing pretty devastated because he’d lost out on knowing you for ten years.”

“It’s not your fault, Mags,” I blurted. “Back then, everything was a mess. We got our wires crossed.” I swallowed and focussed on Cor. “I had to leave Moose Lake because of my father. I thought your mom was better off without me, so I stayed away from her as well.”

Eyes reflecting the responsibility of an only son to a single mom, he asked, “Is she still better off without you?”

I stared back at him.

To move forward with Maggie, I had to allow myself to have her.

And that meant forgiving myself for the past.

“No. And I’ll make it my life’s work to ensure she feels that.”

After assessing me for a moment longer, he offered a brief smile before tugging on Jeff’s leash. “Come on, Jeff. Let’s go see Grandma and Grandpa.”

Colour washed over his round cheeks. Soon the softness would hollow out and give way to downy whiskers. But for now, he was still a child.

His eyes flitted to mine before dancing away. “Mom and Dad will be in in a minute.”

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