Three children.
Daniel in the middle.
Lily pulling his ear.
Noah laughing.
Maria pressed it to her heart.
That was enough.
Ethan moved into a modest house three streets away from Hannah.
Not because he couldn’t afford anything better.
Because Hannah had said:
“If we’re raising children together, I don’t want you living forty minutes away in some billionaire glass tower.”
So Ethan bought the closest available home.
Daniel immediately began spending half his time there.
Then Lily’s crib appeared.
Then Noah’s high chair.
Then Hannah’s coffee mug somehow remained beside Ethan’s sink for three months.
Neither mentioned it.
One snowy December evening, Daniel performed in his school holiday concert.
He forgot half the lyrics.
Lily screamed “DANIEL!” from the audience.
Noah threw a cracker at the principal.
Hannah laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes.
Ethan watched her.
Not the glamorous version his family once claimed she could never become.
