6

"Liam, seriously… you just ate. Stop running!" Sera pressed her fingertips against her temple, where a dull throb was already starting to form. "If you puke, I'm not cleaning it up."

It was a total bluff, and they both knew it. If Liam actually threw up, she’d be the one on her knees with a roll of paper towels, sighing through the cleanup. 

But at three years old, her son possessed a terrifying amount of energy that defied both gravity and common sense. Liam just flashed a toothless grin, tearing around their cramped living room while a ragged knitted bunny swung wildly from his fist.

"Liam! I swear I won't help you with your homework if you don't give Pompom back!" Aurelia yelled, chasing right behind him. Her cheeks were flushed bright pink, and her pigtails bounced like crazy radar dishes tracking a fugitive.

Aurelia’s logic was a little too advanced for a toddler… she’d clearly stolen the 'homework' threat from the older kids next door, but Liam looked genuinely terrified for a split second.

"Aurel's a party pooper! Pompom wants to ride the train! Choo-choo!" Liam veered sharply around the TV stand, the stuffed bunny narrowly missing a plastic vase.

While her siblings turned the house into a low-budget action movie, Allesia chose peace. And food. The youngest and admittedly chubbiest… of the triplets had quietly cornered her plate of fruit. She sat cross legged by the rug, chewing on an orange slice like a tiny, devoted spectator. To Allesia, this was just free cable.

"Run faster, Liam! She's gonna get you!" Allesia cheered around a mouthful of orange. "Hurry up, Aurel! Catch him!"

She clapped her sticky hands, perfectly content to fuel the fire on both sides. Allesia already understood house politics... supporting Liam meant a good laugh, but supporting Aurelia meant girl power. Cheering for total chaos was just easier.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Allie. You'll choke," Sera muttered, her tank empty and it wasn't even nine o'clock.

Giving up was the only way to survive. With the kind of robotic efficiency you only get from raising triplets, Sera folded down the portable aluminum dining table and shoved the chairs against the wall. There was no room for real furniture here. Not with three toddlers using the floorboards as a racetrack.

She scooped Allesia up from behind, plate and all, and dumped her onto the safety of the sofa. "Watch the show from up here, Princess. The floor is a hazard zone."

Allesia giggled, her tiny legs swinging over the cushions as she popped a strawberry into her mouth. "Mommy, Liam looks like the monkey on TV."

"Shh. Don't say that," Sera said, though she completely agreed.

Everything in this house was cheap, light, and easily hidden away. It had to be. This was their life now, tucked away in a drafty little house in Wanaka for the last four years. She had picked this freezing, quiet town on purpose. It was a blank spot on the map. A place to disappear.

A place where Arthur Ashford would never think to look.

Far away from the man who had torn her life apart. Away from a world that had choked the air right out of her lungs.

Sera leaned her head against the wall, her chest tightening as she watched them. Her triplets. They were three years and two months old now, and they were her entire world. The only reason she got out of bed in the morning. The reason she could still find a way to smile when her bones ached from the sheer exhaustion of doing this all alone. Three healthy, brilliant little angels whose existence remained a total secret to their biological father.

To Arthur Ashford.

"Mommy! Liam’s a cheater! He’s using his flying power!"

Aurelia’s screech snapped Sera out of her head. She blinked, turning just in time to catch her breath as her heart did a violent flip. Liam, possessing the kind of zero fear creativity only a toddler had, was balancing on the armrest of the single armchair. He was aiming straight for the floor.

"Liam, don't you dare jump…!"

Thud...

Too late. He launched himself, landing hard but perfect on the pile of floor cushions. He rolled twice, bursting into a fit of giggles like a tiny circus performer. Pompom flew from his grip, landing with a wet slap right onto Allesia’s plate.

"Yayyyy! Liam flew!" Allesia clapped, easily the most amused person in the room.

The second Aurelia realized her bunny was free, she dove across the cushions, snatching Pompom up and crushing the toy to her chest. "Pompom’s hurt! Now he smells like strawberries!" Her bottom lip trembled, her eyes instantly welling up. Typical Aurelia, she could go from zero to a full blown meltdown over her things in a second.

Sera moved fast, dropping to her knees between them before the waterworks triggered a chain reaction. She wrapped an arm around Liam, pinning him against her side before he could launch himself into another stunt.

"Liam, tell Aurel you're sorry. Look, Pompom’s nose is all red from the fruit." She kept her voice low and steady, though her eyes delivered a sharp warning.

Liam blinked up at her. His eyes were startlingly sharp under a fan of thick lashes… the kind of look that managed to feel soft and demanding all at once. Every single time Sera looked at him like this, her breath caught. It was like a physical pull, dragging her right back to the memories she’d spent four years trying to bury.

Liam was a living, breathing photograph of Arthur.

It wasn't just the eyes. Even his jaw was starting to take on that same stubborn, chiseled shape, which felt ridiculous on a three year old. And the way Liam cocked one eyebrow when he didn't want to talk? Pure Arthur. 

Sometimes, looking at her own son felt like staring at a ghost. The man is there, flowing through his son's flesh and blood.

Yet, despite the ache in her chest, Sera loved him so much it hurt.

Any lingering bitterness she had for Arthur evaporated the moment she saw the pure innocence in Liam’s gaze. Her boy didn't know anything about the past. He wasn't the man who had broken her. He was just Liam… her sweet little boy, the one she’d literally risked her life to protect and bring into this world. If anything, the resemblance was just proof that something beautiful could come out of the darkest chapter of her life. A piece of grace hidden inside her deepest scar.

Sera ran her thumb gently over his chubby cheek.

Liam cut his eyes toward Aurelia, who was still pouting, before looking back up at Sera. Instantly, his face melted into a pitiful, wide-eyed look. It was totally fake. Another Arthur Ashford specialty, though infinitely cuter in a toddler body.

"I'm sowwy, Auwel," Liam mumbled, his voice dropping into a rehearsed pout. "Liam wash Pompom in the bafroom later."

"No way!" Aurelia yelled back, clutching the bunny tighter. "You'll drown him in the bucket again!" She hadn't forgotten last week, when Liam decided her Barbie needed a swim in the toilet.

Allesia, having successfully licked her plate clean, slid off the couch. She squeezed her small body between her brother and sister, throwing her arms around both of them at the same time.

"Stop fighting," Allesia said, her voice deadpan but sweet. "If Mommy gets mad, we don't get ice cream."

The youngest’s threat worked better than any lecture Sera could have given. Both Liam and Aurelia froze. Liam rubbed the back of his head, looking guilty, while Aurelia sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Sera let out a long, shaky breath, pulling all three of them into her arms. She buried her face in their hair, breathing in the chaotic mix of baby powder, strawberry juice, and toddler sweat. It was messy, it was loud, and it was absolute chaos.

But to her, it smelled like home.

Wanaka got freezing and quiet the second the sun went down, but inside these four walls, she had enough warmth to burn away the past. Arthur could keep his glittering, empty world. She had everything right here.

He could keep his wealth. His power. His empire. Here, tucked away in this forgotten corner of the world, Sera had something infinitely more precious… three little miracles who somehow managed to turn her house upside down every single day. And she wouldn't trade the chaos for anything.

"Okay." She clapped her hands once, drawing three pairs of wide, curious eyes toward her. "Bedtime."

"Nooo..." Liam groaned dramatically, throwing himself backward onto the cushions. "I'm not sleepy."

"That's funny," Sera said, fighting a smile. "Because your eyes have been closing every five seconds."

"They're just... practicing."

"Practicing what?"

"Sleeping tomorrow."

A laugh escaped Sera before she could stop it. "Oh, really? So that's how it works?"

Liam nodded with complete, unearned confidence. "Yep."

Beside him, Aurelia hugged Pompom tighter. "I'm sleepy."

"You are?"

She nodded solemnly. "But Pompom isn't."

Sera blinked. "Pompom isn't?"

Aurelia shook her head, her face deadpan. "Pompom hasn't brushed her teeth."

Sera bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. "Well... then we'd better help Pompom brush her teeth."

Aurelia immediately slid off the couch, her exhaustion forgotten. "I'll help!"

Before Sera could even stand, Allesia tugged gently on the hem of her oversized sweater. "Mommy."

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Can Bunny brush teeth too?"

"What bunny?"

"The strawberry bunny."

Sera frowned for a second before her eyes landed on Pompom's nose, which was still stained bright pink from the crushed fruit. "Oh..." She smiled, her heart melting just a little more. "I suppose Bunny can brush her teeth too."

Allesia beamed proudly, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. "I knew it."

A few minutes later, the small bathroom became surprisingly crowded. Three tiny toothbrushes. Three plastic cups. Three little step stools lined up in front of the sink. Sera stood right behind them, watching the nightly circus unfold with a familiar wave of affection.

"Round and round," she reminded them, guiding their hands. "Brush the front."

"The back."

"And don't forget your tongue."

Liam obediently brushed for exactly three seconds before getting completely distracted by the bubbles forming around his lips. He grinned at his reflection in the glass. "I'm Santa!"

"No," Aurelia corrected, not taking her eyes off her own mirror image. "Santa has a bigger beard."

Liam puffed out his cheeks, creating even more foam. "Now I do!"

Allesia burst into giggles. "I wanna be Santa too!"

Within seconds, all three toddlers had intentionally smeared toothpaste foam all over their chinss. Three tiny Santas stared back at themselves in the mirror.

Sera closed her eyes and counted silently to three.

When she opened them, the teeth-brushing was entirely abandoned... all three kids were just making hideous, foamy faces at each other. She let out a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. "My goodness... what happened to my good children?"

Liam pointed a sticky finger at the mirror. "They're over there."

Sera couldn't help herself. She laughed… a real, genuine laugh that vibrated deep in her chest. It was a sound she hadn't heard from herself in a very long time.

After rinsing tiny mouths, washing sticky hands, and wiping foamy faces, she finally managed to herd the pack toward their shared bedroom. 

The room was small, just big enough for three twin beds lined up side by side, shelves bursting with storybooks, and a wall taped thick with colorful drawings. Most of those drawings looked like vibrant explosions of crayon, but according to Liam, they were absolute masterpieces.

"Mommy!" Liam scrambled onto his mattress. "Story!"

"Yes!" Allesia climbed up right after him. "Story!"

Aurelia tucked Pompom safely beneath her blanket. "Story too."

Sera chuckled, dropping onto the soft rug between their beds. "You three never miss a beat when it comes to story time, do you?"

"It's the rule," Liam said matter of factly.

"Oh? What rule?"

"The Mommy Rule."

"I don't remember making that rule."

"I did."

"You made Mommy's rule?"

He nodded proudly, pulling his blanket up to his chest. "Yep."

Sera shook her head, her smile widening. "My little boss."

She reached for the picture book resting on Aurelia's nightstand. Before opening it, she paused to look at the three faces waiting expectantly for her voice. Three completely distinct personalities. Three different smiles. Yet somehow, each one of them had managed to stitch back together every broken piece of her heart.

Without them, she honestly didn't know if she would have survived the wreckage of the last four years.

Softly, she cracked open the first page. "Once upon a time..."

Outside, the cool Wanaka wind rustled through the dark trees. Inside, the tiny house was warm, loud, and alive. For tonight, nothing else in the world mattered. 

Only this little family of four.

***