“Mama…” Anna’s voice wavered as she rushed into the room, her certificate clutched in her hands. “I made this for you.”
Sarah blinked hard, wiped her cheeks fast, then crouched down. “Let me see.”
Anna held it out with both hands like it was a national award. In glitter and crooked letters, it read:
WORLD’S BRAVEST MOM
With a stick-figure drawing of Sarah holding Elijah, Anna holding her hand, and a house behind them — their house.
Sarah laughed, a wet, shaky sound that cracked open something deep. “It’s perfect,” she whispered. “Absolutely perfect.”
Anna threw her arms around her, nearly knocking her backward. Sarah hugged her tightly — the kind of hold that says I’m not going anywhere this time.
Jerome stepped back to give them space, but Sarah reached out without looking and caught his wrist. A silent, instinctive “stay.”
He did.
When she finally let go of Anna, Sarah stood and faced him. Her eyes were red but clear — focused in a way he hadn’t seen before.
“You didn’t just save our lives,” she said. “You gave us one.”
Jerome shook his head. “You built this. I just cleared the debris.”
She stepped closer. “I want you in our life. Not as a visitor. Not as a rescuer. As… someone who belongs here.”
Jerome’s breath caught. For the first time since he met her, Sarah wasn’t bracing for impact. She wasn’t shrinking. She wasn’t apologizing for existing.
She was choosing.
“And not because we need you,” she added. “Because we want you.”
Anna looked up, grinning like she already knew this moment was coming. Elijah kicked his feet in the stroller, babbling nonsense in perfect agreement.
Jerome swallowed hard. “Then I’m here,” he said. “For good.”
Sarah exhaled — a long, shaking breath she’d been holding for years. “Good,” she whispered. “Because I’m done surviving. I’m ready to live.”
Jerome reached for her hand. She didn’t pull away.
Behind them, Anna thrust the certificate into the air like she was announcing the closing ceremony of the world’s roughest Olympics.
“Can we hang it in the kitchen?” she asked.
Sarah laughed. “Absolutely.”
“And can Mr. Carter stay for dinner?” Anna added.
Sarah looked at him, then at her daughter.
“He’s staying for everything,” she said.
And just like that — quietly, without fireworks or grand speeches — the four of them stepped into a new chapter.
Not perfect. Not easy. But theirs.
A family, built the hard way.
The real way.
The way that lasts.
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