Chapter 10 - A New Table
The sun was warm, bright, and completely uninterrupted by the gray chill of Chicago as it beat down on the front porch of a sprawling, sun-drenched farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee.
In the front yard, the four girls were laughing hysterically as they chased a golden retriever puppy across the green grass. Chloe, the oldest, sat on the porch swing reading a book, pausing every now and then to look up and smile at her mother.
Rosa stood beside me on the wooden porch railing, holding a mug of coffee—black, just the way I liked it. She wore a simple summer dress, her face relaxed, the dark circles under her eyes entirely gone, replaced by a radiant, natural glow.
"You know," Rosa said, leaning her head against my shoulder as we watched the children play, "the girls still talk about that school lunch."
"Do they?" I asked, a faint, genuine smile touching my lips. "What do they say?"
"Chloe told her teacher yesterday that her new dad isn't very talkative," Rosa chuckled softly, turning her dark eyes up to meet mine. "And that he's a little scary when he wears a black suit. But she said he always shows up when it counts."
I reached out, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her close, feeling the steady, reassuring warmth of her body against mine. The ghosts of my past were gone, buried under the weight of a new life, a new family, and a new beginning.
May you like
I wasn't just hiding anymore.
I was home.
