Page 79 of Broken Destiny

“I miss Dada,” Emma said softly. “Mama say he lives here.” She placed her small hand against her chest. “He gave me dolly for my burfday... Mia.”

“He was a good Dad,” Lucas added quietly. “Actually, he was a great Dad. He took us hiking, and he was always there for all my games and school plays.”

“You miss him a lot, huh?” Caleb asked, turning toward him.

“Yes, very much,” Lucas replied, twirling his pasta slowly around his fork. “I miss him every day.”

Lucas’s face crumpled, tears rolling down his cheeks. The sound of his uneven breathing broke my heart. Emotion lodged thickly in my throat as I pushed my chair back, already moving to comfort him, but before I could reach him, Caleb rose from his seat.

“Hey, hey,” he said softly, walking over to Lucas and kneeling beside him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad, buddy. I’m so sorry.”

Lucas sniffled.

“It’s alright to miss him,” Caleb continued gently. “It’s completely normal. There’s one important thing you always have to remember.”

“What?” Lucas asked, his voice trembling.

“You can always keep him right in here,” Caleb said, pointing to his heart. “Just like Emma said. He’s always watching over you, every day, every minute. And he always will.”

“Really?”

“I swear.”

“Mama misses him, too,” Lucas said tearfully. “She always talks to his picture. She misses him more than us, but she doesn’t say it.”

My breath caught in my throat.

How does he know that I talk to his picture?

“I bet she does,” Caleb said quietly, glancing at me before turning back to Lucas. “From everything you’ve told me, I think he was.”

Lucas nodded slowly.

“No sad, Lucas,” Emma said, reaching her arms out toward him from her highchair. “No sad.”

Caleb lifted Emma from her seat and placed her on the floor. She toddled over to Lucas and wrapped her arms around him, and he hugged her back.

“You come,” Emma said, turning toward Caleb.

I watched the three of them embrace, my hand instinctively pressing against my breastbone. A faint sting gathered behind my eyes as I took in the sight before me.

This was a family moment.

A moment I knew would stay with me forever.

A moment I would hold in my memory long after this night had passed.

A moment that honoured Cole, even in his absence.

“Mama, Geeta,” Emma called out. “Come too.”

Laughing through the emotion, we joined them, and soon all of us were wrapped together in a group hug—an unexpected blend of grief, love, and healing—creating a memory that felt both tender and sacred.

25

JIYA

Caleb poured two glasses of wine in the kitchen while I went upstairs to put the children to sleep. Geeta had taken the dogs out for a walk, and the house had slipped into the soft quiet that usually followed bedtime.