That Evening – Back Home
The house smelled like leftover muffins and the faint sweetness of the jasmine that always drifted through the windows at dusk. Ethan was already in dinosaur pajamas, roaring at his toy box, while Liam and Noah tried to decide which of the photo proofs they liked best.
“Number twelve,” Noah said, tapping the screen. “Look at Ethan’s face. Pure chaos.”
“That’s why we’re not choosing number twelve,” Liam countered, though he was smiling.
Nadyia hovered in the doorway for a moment, watching them. Feeling everything at once.
Her hand drifted down to the counter where she’d left the small white bag—crinkled from how tightly she’d held it on the drive home.
She swallowed.
It wasn’t that she had planned to keep it a secret. She just… needed a second. To breathe. To
