Part 5
Alexander did not sleep well that night.
Not because he thought Noah Grant intended to replace him.
That would have been easier.
Competition was familiar.
Alexander understood competitors.
You studied them.
Outworked them.
Outbid them.
Won.
But Noah was not competing.
That was the problem.
He had simply been there.
When Claire needed someone to inspect a leaking roof, Noah had been there.
When the twins were born early and Claire needed someone to bring groceries to her sister, Noah had been there.
When the shop needed shelves installed, Noah had been there.
No grand gestures.
No headlines.
No power.
Just presence.
Alexander had spent his life believing presence was ordinary.
Now he discovered it might be the rarest thing he had ever failed to give.
The following Saturday, Noah was at the shop again.
Alexander arrived at ten and found him kneeling beside Leo, repairing a wooden train.
“Morning,” Noah said.
“Good morning.”
Noah held up the train.
“Wheel emergency.”
Alexander removed his coat.
“Serious?”
“Critical.”
Leo nodded.
“It crashed.”
Alexander crouched.
“Can it be repaired?”
Noah examined the wheel.
“With cooperation.”
For the next twenty minutes, the two men repaired the train while Leo issued unnecessary instructions.
Claire watched from behind the counter.
The situation should have been awkward.
Strangely, it wasn’t.
When Noah finished, he stood.
“I have to go.”
Leo hugged him.
Lily hugged him.
Claire handed him coffee.
Then Noah turned to Alexander.
“Walk with me?”
Alexander glanced at Claire.
She looked equally surprised.
Outside, Noah shoved his hands into his coat pockets.
“I assume you hate me.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
“I barely know you.”
“Which is the polite version.”
Alexander almost smiled.
Noah stopped near the corner.
“For what it’s worth, Claire and I aren’t together.”
Alexander said nothing.
“She asked me not to tell you because she said it wasn’t your business.”
“She was right.”
Noah looked surprised.
Alexander continued.
“But thank you.”
They resumed walking.
“I cared about her,” Noah said. “I still do.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
Noah noticed.
“But not the way you think.”
“What way do I think?”
“That I spent three years waiting for my chance.”
Alexander looked at him.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Noah smiled faintly.
“Claire was rebuilding her life. She didn’t need someone waiting for her to become available.”
Alexander absorbed that.
It was an uncomfortable truth.
Perhaps because it described exactly what he had once failed to understand.
People did not exist in relation to what he wanted.
Noah stopped again.
“The twins know you now.”
“A little.”
“They talk about you.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“What do they say?”
“Leo thinks your car is too slow.”
Alexander sighed.
“I’m aware.”
“Lily told me you can’t draw flowers.”
“That is also accurate.”
Noah smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“Whatever happens between you and Claire, don’t disappear from those kids.”
Alexander met his eyes.
“I won’t.”
“Good.”
“Noah.”
“Yes?”
“Why did Claire choose you as guardian?”
Noah looked back toward the shop.
“Because I promised her something.”
“What?”
“That if she ever wasn’t around, I would raise them knowing exactly who she was.”
Alexander frowned.
“She was afraid they’d forget her?”
“She was scared during the pregnancy.”
The words hit him.
“Scared enough to plan for dying.”
Noah said nothing.
Alexander looked away.
“Did she almost die?”
Noah hesitated.
“You should ask her.”
That evening, Alexander did.
Claire was closing the shop.
The twins were upstairs.
“Did you almost die?”
Her hands stopped.
“Who told you?”
“Noah didn’t.”
Claire sighed.
“He told you enough to make you ask.”
“Yes.”
She sat beside him.
“The delivery was complicated.”
“How complicated?”
“My blood pressure became dangerously high.”
Alexander went pale.
“The doctors decided they needed to deliver immediately.”
“And?”
“And there were problems.”
Her voice became quieter.
“I lost a lot of blood.”
Alexander stared at her.
“Claire.”
“I survived.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“It is to me.”
He stood and walked several steps away.
The idea of a world in which Claire had died while giving birth to his children made him physically ill.
“You should have called me.”
Claire looked tired.
“We’ve had this conversation.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t turn what happened into another reason to punish yourself.”
He looked at her.
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Yes, it is.”
She stood.
“You think guilt will fix everything because guilt lets you stay at the center of the story.”
Alexander stared.
