"Just needed air." Silas sat down beside him, pulled his coat tighter. "You want to talk about it?" "About what? About whatever's got you sitting out here in a snowstorm instead of inside with your family." Jonah was quiet for a long moment. Then she's really yours, isn't she, Grace? She's your real daughter.
And there it was. The fear Mara had tried to address months ago come back to roost. She's my daughter, Silus said carefully. Just like you're my son. But it's different.
She's got your blood, your name. She'll look like you, sound like you. We're just just what? Just the kids I chose to love. The ones I fought for, the ones I die protecting.
Silas turned to face him fully. Jonah, look at me. Reluctantly, the boy met his eyes. When I married your mother, I didn't just marry her. I married all of you.
I chose you. Every single one of you. And yeah, grace is my blood. But that doesn't make her more mine than you are. You understand?
But what if you start loving her more? What if she becomes your favorite and we're just stop? Silas's voice was firm but gentle. That's fear talking. The same fear I had when Grace was being born.
The fear that loving someone new means loving someone else less. But it doesn't work that way. Love isn't pie, Jonah. It doesn't get smaller when you divide it up. It gets bigger.
How do you know? Because I lived through it. I loved my first daughter more than life itself. When she died, I thought I'd never love anyone that way again. thought my heart was broken for good. He paused.
Then I met you and Eliza and the twins and Thomas and Abigail and every single one of you made my heart bigger. Made me capable of more love than I ever thought possible. Grace isn't taking anything away from that. She's just adding to it. Jonah's eyes filled with tears.
You really mean that? With everything I am, Silas put his arm around the boy's shoulders. You're my son, Jonah. first son. The one who helped me fix that wagon when we barely knew each other. The one who stood beside your mother with a gun when bad men came.
The one who's been so brave through everything. That doesn't change because there's a baby in the house now. What if I mess up? What if I'm not a good brother? Then you'll learn.