The Name of the Father
She stood at the doorstep in the fading evening light, with a satchel and a hollow ache in her bones.
He opened the door like a man who hadn’t been expecting anyone in a long, long time.
Tobias Snape looked older than she remembered. Or maybe just more real.
His coat was wrinkled. His shirt undone at the collar. His eyes: still as sharp, still as sad.
“You,” he said, frowning.
Eileen nodded.
“I… didn’t know where else to go.”
He hesitated. Then stepped aside. “Come in.”
She sat on the faded couch. Clutched her hands in her lap.
He didn’t offer tea. Just stood by the wall, arms crossed.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
No preamble. No hesitation.
He blinked. “Mine?”
She nodded once.
He exhaled sharply and dragged a hand down his face. “Well, shit.”
Silence settled—long and heavy.
Finally, he sat across from her. Elbows on his knees. Gaze fixed.
“Alright,” he said. “What do you want from me?”
Eileen blinked. “I just needed to tell you. I didn’t want to lie.”
He eyed her—slow, measuring. “You didn’t seem like the lying type.”
She said nothing.
“You talk weird, you know that?”
She almost smiled. Almost.
“Proper. Like you read a lot.”
“I do.”
“Didn’t figure you for a factory girl.”
She stiffened slightly. “I’m not.”
"You’re not from around here.”
“No.”
“What are you then?”
And for just a moment, Eileen froze.
A breath held. A truth not ready to be spoken.
“I’m just... alone.”
That, at least, he understood.
He leaned back. Exhaled again.
“Well. I’ve got a house. If you need a place, I can give you that.”
Her voice was quiet.
“Thank you.”
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It was the second night.
Tobias had cooked—beans and mashed potatoes.
Eileen didn’t comment on the fare. Just ate.
They hadn’t spoken much.
She moved quietly through the house, never imposing. Always folded into corners like she was trying to disappear politely.
She washed the dishes without being asked. She slept on the edge of his old bed—he’d moved to his parents’ bedroom three days after burying his father—like she didn’t quite believe she was allowed the space.
Tobias watched her.
She was strange. She didn’t flinch when the floorboards groaned. Didn’t startle at the slam of a car door. Didn’t chatter or whimper or try to fill the silence.
She moved with an eerie, steady grace. The kind that inhabited rain-heavy woods or empty churches. When she sat at his table—back straight, eyes low, hands folded—he thought: She’d make a good wife.
Not warm. Not soft. But present. A woman who didn’t need fussing. Who didn’t waste words. Who’d keep a house like she kept herself—tightly buttoned and silent as snow.
He looked at her and thought—maybe she was sent to me. Maybe, in the middle of all this godless ruin, something decided I shouldn’t go at it alone.
Afterward, they sat across from each other at the kitchen table.
The silence wasn’t hostile. It wasn’t comfortable either.
Then Tobias set down his cup and said, voice like gravel: “I’ll marry you.”
Eileen blinked. “What?”
“You heard me.”
She stared.
“I don’t have much,” he said quietly. “But I've got two good hands and a strong back. A job that keeps the lights on, puts food on the table. I've got my name. It might not be worth gold—but it's yours.””
He met her eyes. Unflinching.
“Kids don’t pick who brings ’em into the world. But every kid deserves a name. And a home. I won’t hear talk of bastards. You’re carrying my kid—that means you’re mine too.”
Eileen opened her mouth.
Closed it.
This wasn’t the life her parents had raised her for. It wasn’t the courtship her mother once promised. It wasn’t love. And it wasn’t Graham. But it was something of worth, nonetheless.
It was a man offering what he had.
It was dignity.
She swallowed.
“You don’t have to—”
“I do.”
That silenced her.
He shifted. Rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not saying you’ll love me. But you’ll always have a roof over your head, food in your belly. And I won’t leave. Not ever.”
She looked down. She didn’t know what to say. But when she nodded, it wasn’t out of fear. It was out of exhaustion. And, in some small way, relief.
She wouldn’t have to lie. She wouldn’t have to be alone.
And that was that.
No ring. No kiss. No flowers.
Just two strangers agreeing not to be strangers anymore.
"I'm Tobias, by the way. Tobias Snape."
"Eileen."