Seven years after our divorce, I went to my ex-wife’s house on Christmas Eve to apologize. But when she opened the door, a little boy appeared behind her with eyes that looked exactly like mine.

decorations covered the walls. A school photograph rested beside a model rocket on a shelf. The boy’s smile looked so much like my late father’s that my stomach tightened.

“Is he mine?” I asked.

Jessi did not deny it.

Instead, she stepped onto the porch and nearly closed the door behind her.

“His name is Leo,” she said. “And he doesn’t know who you are.”

My mind filled with questions, but seven years earlier, anger and pride had already cost me nearly everything. I did not want to repeat the