Chapter 12 - MAYA David entered the recovery room hours later.
Leah looked exhausted.
But she was smiling.
Their daughter slept beside her.
"Meet your daughter."
David approached slowly.
His hands trembled as he touched Maya's tiny fingers.
"She's beautiful."
Leah smiled.
"She has your stubborn chin."
David laughed softly.
"She has your strength."
Maya opened her eyes.
For one brief second, she looked directly at him.
David froze.
He had spent his entire life believing love meant protecting someone from leaving.
Now he understood.
Real love meant giving someone room to become who they were meant to be.
He kissed Leah's forehead.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For not seeing it sooner."
Leah squeezed his hand.
"You see it now."
David looked at Maya.
The past had nearly swallowed them.
But it hadn't.
May you like
Perhaps survival wasn't about becoming the people they had been before.
Perhaps survival meant becoming stronger than the people they had once been.
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