Maybe he's right.Maybe I am healing, one day at a time.
With him beside me, maybe I can finally believe in a future that isn't defined by fear.
We fall asleep like that, wrapped around each other.And for the first time in weeks, I don't dream of warehouses or ropes or pain.
I dream of home.Of family.Of love.
I dream of everything we're building together from the ashes of what we lost.
And in the morning, when I wake to sunshine and Hades' arms still around me, I’ll know that this is real.
This is my life now.Our life.
And it's better than anything I could have imagined.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
hades
Sophie's roomis the color of cotton candy now.Pink walls with white trim, exactly like she wanted.
I dip the roller back into the paint tray, working the last section near the ceiling.Sophie sits on a drop cloth in the middle of the floor, legs crossed, watching my every move like I'm performing magic.
"Is it done yet, Uncle Hades?"
"Almost, little one.Just this last bit."
"It's so pretty," she breathes."Like a princess room."
Emma appears in the doorway, paintbrush in hand.Her room is next door, halfway through transformation into the soft blue she picked."Can I help?"
"Sure.Grab a brush and do the edges near the window."
She settles in beside Sophie, making careful strokes along the trim.Mason and Jake are outside with Tempest, working on the tree house we're building in the backyard.Lily's helping Evangeline organize the new bookshelf we assembled last night.
This family, it's ours now.Really ours, with the custody papers signed and filed.No more social workers.No more uncertainty.
Just us.
"Uncle Hades?"Sophie's voice pulls me back."Are you gonna marry Aunt Evangeline?"
My hand stills mid-stroke."Why do you ask?"
"Because you love her.And she loves you.That's what people do when they love each other, right?"
Out of the mouths of babes.
"Yeah," I say softly."That's what they do."
"So are you?"
Emma stops painting to look at me, curiosity bright in her eyes.
"Maybe," I tell them."If she says yes."
Sophie bounces on her knees."She'll say yes!She has to say yes!"
"We'll see."
