Summary:

Being a good father and a good husband turned out not to require anything extraordinary. All Ilya had to do was hold his son upright while he cried. Reach for his husband’s hand when everything else felt fragile enough to break. Explaining why. Explaining it again. Apologizing when he was wrong and letting himself be forgiven, too. Stay—especially on the days when staying felt like a decision he had already, once, been afraid he might not make. Do it again tomorrow. And tomorrow, Ilya learned, was no longer frightening when it looked back at him through brown eyes.