Elara hadn’t told her father much about trying.


But one morning, while Michael was out, she called Marcus. His voice always brought calm—like steady ground beneath unsteady feet.


“You sound tired,” he said after hearing her hello.


“I am,” she admitted. “Not physically. Just... emotionally stretched.”


He didn’t rush her. He never did.


“We’ve been trying,” she said softly. “For a baby. And it’s not happening. At least not yet.”


A pause.


Then: “Ah. So that’s the quiet in your voice.”



---


They spoke for a while—about timing, hope, and frustration. Then Marcus said something she didn’t expect.


“You know, I never told you much about your mother in those early days. After she left.”


Elara felt her breath catch. “No. You didn’t.”


He hesitated.


“She always wanted you, Elara. She loved the idea of you more than anything. But love doesn’t always make someone capable.”


Elara sat with that. “Why are you telling me this now?”


“Because you’re fighting to become something she was too afraid to be. And I want you to know—her leaving was never about you. It was about her fear.”


Elara blinked, tears stinging. “I guess part of me still thinks I’ll end up like her.”


“You won’t,” he said. “Because you already made the choice to stay. In love. In struggle. You’re showing up. That’s everything.”



---


Later that day, Elara walked to the old cathedral near their apartment and sat inside, listening to the echo of her own breath.


She didn’t pray. But she closed her eyes and whispered into the stillness:


“I am not her. I’m me. And that’s enough.”



---


That night, she told Michael what Marcus had said. They sat cross-legged on their bed, knees touching.


“I think I was waiting to prove I was different from her,” she said. “But I don’t have to. I already am.”


Michael leaned forward, kissed her hand. “Exactly. You don’t have to earn your own heart.”



---


In her journal, Elara wrote:


"Dear little one—

I’ve spent so long fearing I’d repeat her story.

But today I saw my own beginning.

If you come to me, I’ll welcome you.

Not from a place of fear,

But from the home I’ve finally made inside myself."