Athena\u00a0<\/p>\n
I woke up to giggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not the sound I was expecting after everything that happened yesterday. I\u2019d fallen asleep holding Tristan\u2019s hand, felt the warmth of him next to me, and somewhere in the back of my mind I\u2019d expected to wake up the same way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the weight on the bed felt different, lighter, and there were definitely more than two small bodies bouncing on the mattress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I opened my eyes slowly and saw a flash of blonde hair and bright blue eyes staring down at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s awake!\u201d Lily shouted, her face breaking into the biggest smile I\u2019d seen in weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWake!\u201d Liam echoed, his little voice full of excitement as he crawled across the bed toward me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart did something weird in my chest, something that felt like it was breaking and healing at the same time. I pushed myself up\u00a0<\/p>\n
and immediately pulled both of them into my arms, hugging them so tight I was afraid I might squeeze too hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI missed you,\u201d Lily said against my shoulder, her small arms wrapping around my neck. \u201cI missed you so much, Aunt\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss you,\u201d Liam repeated, patting my cheek with his chubby little hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI missed you too,\u201d I said, and my voice came out thick with emotion. \u201cI missed you both so much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled back just enough to look at them, taking in their happy faces and bright eyes. They looked good, healthy and safe, and seeing them here, made everything from yesterday feel worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every scary moment, every fear, every risk, it was all worth it if it meant I got to see and touch them again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy said you were sick,\u201d Lily said, her face turning serious. \u201cBut you look okay now. Are you better?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m much better,\u201d I told her, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. \u201cI\u2019m all better now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d she said firmly, then her face brightened again. \u201cBecause we need you to take us out. Mommy said you would take us out if we\u00a0<\/p>\n
asked nicely.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed, the sound surprising me because I hadn\u2019t laughed like that in days. \u201cDid she now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease?\u201d Lily asked, batting her eyelashes in that way she\u2019d learned worked on most adults. \u201cPlease, please, please?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPease,\u201d Liam added, copying his sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jan 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
94\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 227\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d I said, unable to resist them even if I wanted to. \u201cLet me get dressed first.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lily squealed and jumped off the bed, running to the wardrobe in the corner. She pulled the door open and started rifling through the clothes hanging there like she owned the place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at the wardrobe in confusion. I\u2019d been sleeping in this guest room for two days and I hadn\u2019t even noticed there were clothes\u00a0<\/p>\n
in there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been wearing the same borrowed shirt and sweatpants since we got here because I hadn\u2019t thought to look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one,\u201d Lily announced, pulling out a sundress I definitely didn\u2019t own. It was light blue with small white flowers, simple and\u00a0<\/p>\n
pretty and completely new.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did that come from?\u201d I asked, getting out of bed and walking over to look.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUncle T and Dad said to put clothes in here for you,\u201d Lily said proudly. \u201cHe said you needed pretty things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My throat felt tight. Tristan and Orion had gone shopping for me, had filled this wardrobe with clothes while I was dealing with everything else. When did they do it? I hadn\u2019t even noticed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s perfect,\u201d I told Lily, taking the dress from her. \u201cThank you for picking it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d she said, beaming at me. \u201cNow go shower. You smell like sleep.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 227 Athena\u00a0 I woke up to giggles.\u00a0 Not the sound I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}