Page 30 of Triplets for the Dark Elf

I just didn’t expect it to be so fulfilling.

But seeing the triplets’ faces light up when I come to their home in the evenings does something to me that I can’t even explain. It’s an inexplicable form of magic that is more addicting than any drug or alcohol.

I can’t get enough. Not of Indie’s curiosity or Maeve’s laughter or Hazel’s quick wit. They are all so distinct in their personalities, and I’ve loved getting to know each one of them.

Like how I’ve found Indie going through my bag on more than one account. “This?” he’d ask, holding up a ledger. I’d explain it and he’d nod solemnly before going to the next thing. “This?” he’d hold up a compass. And I’d let him go until my bag was scattered and Annalise was giggling at his incessant curiosity.

Or how Maeve loves jokes. Every single one I tell her sends her into a laughing fit. And she will play games until she is falling asleep standing up. It doesn’t matter if cards or dice or magical challenges. She can’t get enough of them.

Hazel is her opposite, and I find it amusing to watch the two of them together. Annalise tells me that Hazel was the first of the three to talk, and it was to tell Maeve to stop. First word, stop, because Maeve was teasing her sister. She’s so observant, and I like to watch her as she thinks. I know she wants to be taken seriously when she does talk, which is more rare, so I weigh everything she says carefully.

But the best part is how I have my own relationship with each of them. And while I knew I wanted a kid so bad, having three is better than I could have expected.

Since I met them, it feels like the empty part of my life has been filled. Though there is still room for one thing.

A complete family.

Eighteen.

I’ve had eighteen dinners with my family. Annalise has let me come over almost every evening since I met the triplets, and for that, I am grateful.

I have yet to discover why she would let me into their life if she thinks so little of me. And sometimes I catch her looking at me with this sad expression and longing glint to her eyes. That confuses me as well, but I haven’t dared broach the topic. Everything has been going so well, and I don’t want to disrupt that.

Not when I get to come in at night after work and see Annalise smiling at me. “Mimi’s here!” she’ll tease and the triplets will come running.

I catch them in my arms, trying to listen as they each shout the news they have to share with me, and then I help Annalise settle them in their chairs for dinner.

And when we both take our seats, she looks at me, asking, “How was your day, Miothro?” My heart soars every time, and I just know that whatever happened in the past, I have to let go. Even if I don’t have the answers.

Because this is all I want. To sit here with her for dinner every night and hear her ask about my day and laugh as she tells me about hers.

We are working hard at this, and I hope that Annalise can see that I am doing this for her, too. I love our kids, I do, but I love their mother, too. With each dinner, I fall in love more and more – if that’s even possible – and I hope that she is starting to see how perfect this is.

Maybe I am foolish but I’m putting my heart back out there. Actually, who am I kidding? Annalise always had it. I just want her to show me that she still wants it. I just need a little sign.

And with the way her gaze on me has been softening and her smile has deepened with each passing day, I think I might have it.

One.

I have to take this one day at a time. One foot in front of the other. Because my heart has belonged to one person since I first laid eyes on her and she is the only one that I want for the rest of my life.

I am now bursting at the seams with the love I have for my little family, and I know that I am slowly earning it. Especially as the triplets beg me to tuck them into bed.

And last night, for the first time, Hazel hugged me close and whispered, “Love you.” I swear my heart melted then. Maeve told me that the first week I started to have dinner with them, and Indie the week after.

But not Hazel. Not impassive Hazel who needs you to earn her trust. And I struggled to keep it together as I told her I loved her just like I had every night and crept from the room.

Annalise was standing there as I came out teary eyed and with a bright smile. She cocked her head, a grin toying on her lips as she raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

I couldn’t help myself as I closed the distance, lightly gripping her shoulders and confessing, “Hazel said she loved me.”

Annalise smiled with me. “She’s hard to win over.”

“I know.” A tear broke free then and Annalise slid her arms around my waist. I pulled her against me and savored the feeling until we finally broke apart and I had to go home.

It’s been one day since then. One day of absolute bliss. Of knowing my kids all love me and Annalise is starting to come around on us.

And with each day, I’ll get that much closer to what I really want.