He holds the child in his hands for the first time – his child. His daughter, Bethany, and there is a moment when her eyes meet his and widen that he feels as though they share a perfect communion that he has missed since her namesake's death so many years before.
"I promise," he tells her in response to that look.
Merrill is exhausted, but she smiles up at him when he speaks. "What are you promising, da len?"
Carver brushes a thumb along the delicately pointed curve of his daughter's ear and says, "I promise that I will always protect her."