When There Is Nothing Left But Love

“Okay.” I nodded obediently and continued speaking through puffed cheeks, “Get home as soon as you can.”

A faint voice spoke up from his end of the call. It was foreign and sounded like it belonged to a man. “Mr. Fuller, you may begin now.”

“Alright,” Ashton responded to the voice before turning back to me. “I have to deal with some stuff here, so you should go on to bed without me. I’ll text you when I get home.”

Then he hung up before I could manage a “goodbye” or even an “okay.”

Looking back at the call history, something didn’t quite sit right in my chest.

Am I mistaken or did Ashton sound a little nervous earlier? As I contemplated giving him another call after he was done with his work, my phone buzzed—it was a WhatsApp message from Ashton: Don’t worry, Honey. I’ll be extra careful so no one can cop a feel.

A soft smile broke out on my face, thinking that he must be fine if he can joke around like this.

Feeling relieved, I put away my phone and decided to check on the twins in their nursery. On my way there, I noticed a faint glow coming from Summer’s room. Seeing that her door wasn’t fully shut, I peeked into her room out of curiosity.

was still awake at this hour. She sat before her brightly lit computer with her head

Stella to the Logistics Department and made sure she suffered for it. Don’t

in me as I tiptoed behind Summer to get a better look. It turned out that Summer was practicing some fourth-grade math questions with the guidance

as I took in the unexpected sight before me. Summer had just started school,

workbook before her. She was so absorbed in solving equations that she hadn’t even noticed me

can such a tiny human being look so mature and

not startle her before asking

beamed at me whilst eagerly motioning to the contents of her workbook. “Math equations are so fun, and Mr. Cress said I’m really good at solving them! He even assigned some extra

“Is that so…?”

was nothing special about the contents since it mostly consisted of basic two-digit calculations. However, Summer nailed every single question so

pressed my lips into a proud

had a gift for numbers before she passed. Back when Macy was a business owner, she would happily throw herself into the tediousness of bookkeeping. She loved it dearly; calculating, and tallying the sums like she was baking bread. When it

was comforting to see. It was as if Summer was living proof that a wonderful person like

across my face as I encouraged, “That’s great, Summer! I’m so proud