Days turned into weeks.
Zara adjusted easily because this didn’t just feel like shelter…
It felt like home.
The children adored her. They ran to her when they cried. They laughed harder when she was around. They listened when she spoke. To them, she wasn’t just Auntie Zara anymore.
She was something warmer. Something safer.
One afternoon, Lilly was playing with the others when she suddenly raised her little voice.
“If you want… you can call her Mommy too,” she said cheerfully. “She has enough love for all of us!”
Zara’s breath hitched.
A few of the girls shyly tested it.
“Mommy…?”
“Mommy Zara?”
And just like that, the name stuck.
Zara smiled, tears shining in her eyes, pride swelling in her chest. For the first time in a long time, she felt… needed. Loved. Whole.
Then the day
