Beyond the Divorce

Faced with my daughter's inquiries, I could only try to reassure her. "Mommy will be back as soon as possible."

"You always say that, but you keep coming back later and later!" Ava's emotions instantly surfaced as she pouted. Her gaze lowered and she looked extremely upset.

"I'd never lie to you. It's just that some things don't go as smoothly as we imagined, which delays my return home," I patiently explained.

She suddenly looked up, and I noticed that her eyes were glistening with tears. "But I don't want you to keep going on business trips, Mommy. I'll be lonely."

"How could you be lonely?" I was sympathetic, but amused by her statement. "Don't you have Jenny, Grandma, and Grandpa to keep you company? How could you be lonely?"

"But they're not you, Mommy. I want you, Mommy." Ava's tears finally fell, rolling down her cheeks.

I quickly reached out to embrace her, feeling a pang of guilt. I understood her loneliness.

"Alright, I understand. We'll try not to go on so many business trips from now on. But I'll definitely bring back lots of gifts for you. And after we deal with this, I'll take you all with me next time." I tried to give her some hope to cheer her up.

"You always say that! You said you would take me to see Grandpa Archie in Solaris, but you didn't," Ava retorted.

I suddenly realized that

doorway. "We won't let you down, Ava.

excitement and looked at him as he entered the room.

has been taken by someone else. So we need to go and reason with them, and then we'll come back. That's why it'll

Her expression was priceless.

situation into a story, explaining it

was

there, thinking about Atlas's

asked, "Are they bad people? Why did they

clear she had

that time, Mommy and Daddy

you get our home back, Daddy?" Ava looked at Atlas seriously. "My teacher says we can use

Atlas and I

us. Then we'll take you back to see the home where Mommy and Daddy spent our childhood. Your grandparents lived there

hard. You need to