CEO Single Dad Falls For Her, Never Expected She’d Love His Kids Like Her Own
Chapter 7
Not everyone was happy.
Ethan’s former mother-in-law arrived unexpectedly.
Claire’s mother, Helen, had never forgiven Ethan for moving on.
She looked at Ava with open suspicion.
“You work for him?”
Ava nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you live here?”
“No.”
Helen glanced toward Ethan.
“How convenient.”
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“That’s enough.”
Helen looked at him.
“Your children barely remember their mother.”
“That isn’t true.”
“They need someone who understands what they lost.”
Ava quietly stepped back.
Ethan noticed.
He moved beside her.
“They have me.”
Helen shook her head.
“They need Claire.”
Ava said softly:
“They can love their mother and still love someone else.”
Helen turned toward her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No.”
Ava didn’t become defensive.
“You’re right.”
She looked at Lily, who was watching from the stairs.
“But I know what it’s like to miss someone.”
Helen went silent.
Ava continued:
“And I know children shouldn’t have to prove their grief to deserve happiness.”
Helen stared at her.
Then she left.
Ethan closed the door.
Ava looked exhausted.
“You didn’t have to defend me.”
“I wasn’t.”
She looked surprised.
“I was defending them.”
That evening, Helen called Ethan.
She wanted custody arrangements changed.
She claimed Ava was confusing the children.
Ethan hired attorneys.
But he also asked Lily what she wanted.
The little girl answered immediately.
“I want Ava.”
Ethan asked:
“Why?”
“Because she listens.”
That sentence stayed with him.
The legal conflict eventually faded.
Helen began visiting more.
And something unexpected happened.
Ava never tried to replace her.
She encouraged the children to call their grandmother.
She helped them make cards for Claire’s birthday.
She kept Claire’s photographs in the house.
She never erased the past.
She made room for it.
Ethan realized that was why his children trusted her.
Ava didn’t ask them to forget.
She taught them they could remember and still be happy.
