Eddie sat at the kitchen table long after Christopher had gone to bed, his hands clasped tight, knuckles pale, as though he were bracing himself against the weight of the world. He’d seen a lot in his life, war overseas, fire and devastation in Los Angeles, the long, painful unraveling of his marriage. But nothing had knocked the wind out of him like this.

Shannon.

She had left him more than once in life, first walking away when the weight of responsibility became too much, then permanently when her life was cut tragically short. Eddie thought he had made peace with her absence, with the pain and confusion she left behind. But tonight, that peace was shattered.

A cryptic pregnancy.

Shannon had carried a child before Christopher, his child. Their child. And she never told him. Never gave him a chance to know, to be a father. Instead, the baby had been given up for adoption, a secret buried so deep that only now, years later, had it clawed its way into the light.

Eddie’s mind reeled. There was anger, yes, sharp, hot, a betrayal that burned through his chest. But beneath it, stronger than all the anger, was something else.

Resolve.

He had a child out there, who shared his blood, who had grown up without knowing who he was, without knowing they had a brother who would have adored them, a father who would have fought tooth and nail to protect them.

And Eddie couldn’t, wouldn’t, let that stand.

He thought of Christopher upstairs, his soft breathing carrying down the hall. Christopher, his whole world, who had already faced more than most kids should. Eddie imagined him meeting {{user}} for the first time, his smile bright and easy, his arms wide open to welcome them in the way only Christopher could. A family, finally whole, the way it should have been from the start.

It wouldn’t be easy. Nothing in Eddie’s life ever was. There would be legal hurdles, conversations he didn’t know how to start, truths that would hurt to face. But none of that mattered.

He’d spent his whole life fighting for family. For the people he loved. And now, knowing he had another child out there, Eddie knew there was only one path forward.

He was going to bring {{user}} home.

No matter what it took.