all chests rise and fall beneath the blankets in the quiet bedroom. I leaned close to their pillows and whispered something I desperately needed them to hear, even though they were probably too young to understand the full weight of it.
“I will never, ever let anyone take you away from me,” I promised them softly.
I had no idea then that the only person who would ever threaten to do exactly that was the man I trusted most in the world.
The front door clicked shut behind Tristan as he walked inside the house later that afternoon. He tossed his car keys onto the entry table as casually as if nothing in our lives had changed at all.
The twins were upstairs taking an afternoon nap, exhausted from the traumatic events of the past few days. The official guardianship papers were sitting in a neat folder near the fruit bowl, signed and stamped that very morning.
“Everything went through with the court?” Tristan asked as he unbuttoned his top collar.
“It’s completely official,” I replied quietly. “I am officially their legal guardian now.”
He nodded slowly, taking a step toward the kitchen counter. Then he leaned casually against the doorway with a strange, careful smile on his face.
“Honey… uh… this whole guardianship thing is only temporary, right?” he asked.
I turned my head toward him, feeling a sudden chill in the air.
“What do you mean by temporary?” I asked back.
