Daniel didn’t know what had brought him there. He took in the faces that looked at him, some raw with emotion, others stoic now that they had shared. But not one of them looked at him with shame or disdain. They may not be smiling, but he’d just spent the last hour or more listening to their struggles and setbacks and progress in learning to live life again. Every man in this room had lost a piece of themselves, and they weren’t living in fear of talking about it.

He stood and did something he hadn’t done in a very long time. Maybe not even with Annika. He spoke from his heart.

“I’m here because I’ve been afraid for a long time. I’ve been afraid to care for another person. Until I found myself falling in love with the most amazing woman, and somehow, she loved me, too.” He looked around the room, finally resting his gaze on Anil-uncle. “I ended up pushing her away.”

“Why did you push her away?” Ron asked.

Daniel fixed his gaze on Anil-uncle. “I can’t be the man she needs me to be. The man she deserves.”

“Why not?” Anil asked.

“Because...because every time I care about someone, I’m filled with the fear that they will be ripped away from me.”

“And now?” Anil asked.

Daniel sighed and looked around, his gaze resting on Mr. Mehta’s face. “Now I’m tired. I’m so tired of being afraid.”

Saying it out loud actually made him a little less tired. A little less afraid.

Anil smiled at him. “Then you have come to the right place. Thank you, Daniel.”

After the meeting, a few men introduced themselves to Daniel before leaving, all of them offering words of support and encouragement. Daniel loitered until the last man had left and it was just him and Mr. Mehta.

Mr. Mehta spoke before Daniel even asked the question. “Vipul died when he was one year old. Annika was just two. She doesn’t remember him, but we keep his memory alive. No secrets.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Would it have mattered? She doesn’t remember him. Her strongest sense of loss is her miscarriage—which you know about.” They walked out to the parking lot together.

“Why didn’t she suggest this group?”