Tyler understood that at 9 years old. Alone in an unfamiliar situation, carrying something he shouldn’t have had to carry, he found a way to hold on to the truth until he could bring it home to the one person he trusted completely. I will never stop being grateful for that.
We have good mornings now. The kind where Captain knocks something off the counter before 7 a.m., and Tyler laughs from the other room before he even knows what happened. The kind where the kitchen smells like coffee, and the light comes through those wide windows, and there is genuinely simply nowhere else I would rather be.
It is quieter than our old life. But it is the right kind of quiet. The kind that actually means peace. Take care of yourselves and trust what you already know.
Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.