Cassian stands beside me watching them go around. Finn’s waving every time he passes. Liam’s gripping the pole with both hands, pretending he’s racing someone.
“This is nice,” Cassian says quietly.
“It is.”
“We should do it more often.”
“The carousel?”
“All of it. Getting out. Doing normal family things.”
I glance at him. He’s watching the boys with an expression I can’t quite read. There’s contentment there, but also longing. Like he’s trying to memorize this moment because he’s not sure how many more he’ll get.
“You want normal?”
“With them? Yes.”
The carousel slows. Stops. The boys jump off and immediately spot the playground.
“Can we?” Finn asks, already pulling on my hand.
“Go ahead.”
They’re gone before I finish the sentence.
We follow them to the playground and settle on a bench nearby. Julian and Nadia sit on the bench across from us, both watching the twins with identical soft expressions.
Finn climbs to the top of the jungle gym and shouts for everyone to watch. Then proceeds to climb down the exact same way he went up, like descending is somehow more impressive than ascending.
Liam’s on the swings, pumping his legs to go higher. He gets frustrated when he can’t get enough momentum and calls for help.
Cassian stands without me asking. “I’ve got it.”
He walks over and starts pushing. Liam goes higher, laughing every time the swing reaches its peak. The sound carries across the playground, pure and uninhibited, and I realize I haven’t heard him laugh like that in weeks.
Maybe longer.
Nadia nudges Julian. “Look at them.”
“I’m looking.”
“He’s good with them.”
“I know.”
“You were wrong about him. We both were.”
Julian doesn’t answer, just watches Cassian push Liam on the swing and eventually nods once. Quiet acknowledgment that maybe the man he wanted to keep away from his nephews isn’t the threat he thought he was.
Finn abandons the jungle gym and runs to the slide. Goes down head-first on his stomach and nearly gives me a heart attack when he almost flies off the end.
“Careful!” I shout.
He just laughs and runs to do it again. Like the concept of injury doesn’t exist in his world.
An hour passes. Then another. The boys run from one thing to the next, endless energy, while we follow and make sure they don’t kill themselves doing something stupid.
Eventually they wear down and we head to a food cart for hot dogs. Finn insists on extra ketchup. Liam picks off the onions and gives them to his brother without being asked. They eat standing up, sauce getting everywhere, completely happy.
