CEO Single Dad Falls For Her, Never Expected She’d Love His Kids Like Her Own
Chapter 14
The final surprise came from Lily.
She was seventeen.
A senior in high school.
She had decided to write her college essay about family.
Ethan expected something sentimental.
Instead, she wrote about a woman who had entered her house as an employee and slowly became the person who taught her what love could look like after loss.
She didn’t call Ava her replacement mother.
She called her something else.
“My second home.”
When Lily read the essay aloud, Ava cried.
Ethan did too.
Noah pretended not to.
At the end, Lily looked at Ava.
“You saved us.”
Ava shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Ava looked at Ethan.
He smiled.
“She knows.”
Lily laughed.
“No, you don’t get it.”
She looked at Ava.
“We weren’t waiting for someone to replace Mom.”
She took her hand.
“We were waiting for someone who wasn’t afraid to love us after she was gone.”
Ava couldn’t speak.
Lily hugged her.
Ethan watched them.
He remembered the woman who had entered his house years ago carrying a tray of dishes.
He remembered thinking she was temporary.
Everyone was temporary.
Nannies.
Housekeepers.
Employees.
Friends.
He had been so afraid of loss that he had turned everyone into someone who could leave.
Ava had never promised she wouldn’t.
She simply stayed.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until staying became a life.
