Jamie hesitated before answering.
“I didn’t want people to laugh.”
Then he glanced at Claire.
“You said I wasn’t safe.”
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Jamie continued, his voice barely above a whisper.
“So I learned how to be safe.”
He explained that he had signed up for the classes because he wanted to hold Sophie someday. He had practiced with the doll at home, repeating the steps until he could remember them without help.
He hadn’t wanted to prove anyone wrong just for the sake of winning an argument.
He wanted his niece to be safe in his arms.
“I thought maybe, if I learned enough, Claire would let me hold her,” he said.
Claire’s face crumpled.
For months, she had treated Jamie as though one accident from years earlier defined everything he could ever do. She had watched him nervously, taken things from his hands, and made him feel like a danger to the very child he loved.
