Chapter 105. The Life She Chose

On the weekend of their first wedding anniversary, Diana found one of her vows beneath a shopping list.

She had opened the drawer looking for a receipt. Instead, there was the folded page, its edges softened from being handled on the day she wrote it.

She unfolded it.

To make a home where both of us are allowed to be tired, wrong, happy, and ourselves.

From the kitchen, Gabriel said something to Clara that made their daughter produce a delighted, untranslatable sound.

Diana smiled at the page.

They had been all of those things this year. Sometimes in the same evening.

She put the vows back beside his and went to find them.

Clara sat supported against Gabriel, reaching for the spoon he was trying to keep out of her grasp. Her concentration was absolute. Diana recognized the stubbornness without volunteering an opinion about which parent had supplied it.

Gabriel looked up.

“Help.”

“You appear to be managing.”