What approach can be taken to help a woman [37/f] navigate an emotionally intense situation with her partner [36/m]?

I’m a 37-year-old woman who's been in a relationship with a 36-year-old man for a year and a half. Everything seemed fine overall—sure, we had our bumps along the way, but nothing major. Then, out of the blue, he cut off all communication with me right after my birthday. A week later, he reached out to say that my having a child (an 11-year-old son) is a dealbreaker for him. This shocked me because my son lives with his father and stepmom in another state—we have shared custody, and I'm just caring for him over the summer. We all get along well, so his sudden reaction left me reeling. I told him that this was a huge issue and that if I had known my child could be a reason for him to walk away, I wouldn't have invested my time. He then mentioned having bad experiences in the past with women who had kids, feeling unsure since he’s never felt such a strong connection with someone before. Our three-hour conversation left me even more confused, as nothing was resolved. He had always been straightforward with me until this point, but I decided it was best to move on since uncertainty is also an answer. What's baffling is that he’s known about my child since our first meeting, so it wasn’t a surprise to him. I consider myself a good mom, educated, employed, kind, and fit—my life is drama-free, so I can't understand why it took him a year and a half to mention this. Fast forward to yesterday, when my car broke down two hours away from home; it lost power steering and smoke was billowing from under the hood. I honestly thought it might explode. Swallowing my pride, I called him for advice since he’s great with cars. He showed up three hours later with a trailer to tow my car back home and even researched how to replace the motor. Now, I’m finding it hard to reconcile all of this. I had decided to have no contact with him before the car incident, but now I’m unsure of what to do. I deeply believe he’s my “person,” but I don’t want to be in a position of trying to change his mind. I just need different perspectives because I feel genuinely lost. His choices and feelings seem so disconnected, and I’m really devastated by the whole situation.