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“With a mouthful of garbage.” Poor Ivy had gone pale.

“That’s funny.” Three heads turned toward me at my deadpan response, while the fourth, River, stabbed at the last of his pasta.

“Everyone dump your scraps in the trash and then put the plates in the sink, please.” River got up and opened the dishwasher.

“It’s raining a lot.” Poppy put her face to the window and studied the water streaming over the glass.

“And windy.” Wren shivered. “I don’t like it.” She clung to River’s leg, and he picked her up.

“How about you all sleep together tonight?” he suggested.

“Can you join us?” Ivy tugged on his hand.

“For a little while.” River was putting cutlery in the dishwasher.

Ivy climbed onto my lap and rested her head on my chest. “Are you okay, Daddy? You seem sad.”

I stroked her head and held her tight. Her warm body comforted me, and I whispered into her hair that I was just tired. I was exhausted, but that was from not sleeping and thinking about River at 2, 3, 4 and 5 AM.

“The rain is sideways.” Poppy was still at the window staring at the rain pounding the trees with the dark sky beyond.

Not wanting to be alone with River, I suggested he start the girls’ baths and I’d clean up. “I’ll read tonight’s bedtime story.”

But as the girls headed for the stairs, the lights went out. There was no flickering warning, just sudden darkness.

“Hold my hands, girls.” River and my daughters were outlined in the doorway by a flash of lightning. I could see him fumbling his way to the drawer where we kept the candles.

Poor River had never experienced a blackout with the triplets, and I rose from my seat, wanting to get them away from him, but they were wearing their bracelets.

“We can play hide-and-seek.” Ivy’s voice had risen by decibels.

“I have candles, but I can’t find anything to light them with.” River was scrabbling around in the drawer.

Oh gods, no. We didn’t use lighters because the girls could produce flames and my dragon always helped out with lighting candles. I leaped out of my chair and yelled, “No.”

“I’ve got you.” Wren’s bracelet hit the floor and a purple flame appeared on her palm. “You don’t have to be scared, River.”

I smacked a hand on my brow as Poppy hissed, “Not here.” But it was too late.

Much too late, my dragon agreed with me.

But my darling Wren had been thinking only of River when she lit up, as we called it.

The flame illuminated River’s face from below, and I tensed, waiting for him to recoil and to scramble away from my girls. I hated that they were going to experience othering from a man they’d grown to love.

But River leaned into the flame. And he was examining Wren’s hand, turning it sideways, and peering at it from underneath.

“That’s amazing, Wren. That’s so clever.” He put an arm around her shoulder. “You’ll have to tell me how you did that.”

River assumed it was a trick. Not surprising considering how many the girls had played on him.

He glanced in my direction. “It can’t be matches or a lighter because I’m pretty sure your dad wouldn’t allow you to play with those.”

“It’s my dragon.” I could hear Wren’s grin in her voice.

“We all have them.” Ivy was so proud, and she produced an orange one. Poppy shrugged and showed River her blue flame.

I maneuvered myself between the girls and River. They’d initiated the flames, but they were six and I was the adult. I had to decide how the aftermath would play out.