Building Something New
There was no magical, instant reunion. Leo did not call Andrew “Dad” right away. I did not fall back in love with the boy I had known at seventeen. Real life is more complicated than that.
Andrew began with weekly phone calls. Sometimes Leo answered, sometimes not — but Andrew never pressured him. He attended Leo’s college orientation, helped him move into his dorm, and started contributing toward his education, even when Leo told him, “You don’t have to buy your way into my life.”
“I know,” Andrew replied. “This isn’t payment. It’s one responsibility I still have time to fulfill.”
Claire also became part of our lives — the aunt Leo never knew, sending him silly childhood photos and telling stories about Andrew he had never heard. Slowly, something began to grow: not the family we might have been, but a new one, built on truth, patience, and choice.
