Sophia read a Christmas poem she had written, which began sweetly and ended with a dragon eating a corrupt king.
Olivia fell asleep before dessert with frosting on her sleeve.
After dinner, snow began falling.
The children dragged Aaron outside for their annual snowball campaign. Margaret followed with a red scarf around her shoulders.
I remained on the porch.
Daniel stepped out a minute later, keeping a careful distance.
For a while, we watched in silence.
Aaron lifted Olivia onto his shoulders. Noah shouted commands. Sophia declared herself queen of the northern front. Ethan tried to draft battlefield regulations and was ignored by everyone.
Daniel said, “They’re happy.”
“Yes.”
“You gave them that.”
I watched Aaron catch a snowball meant for his face and dramatically collapse, sending all four children into shrieks of laughter.
“No,” I said. “I protected enough space for happiness to find them.”
Daniel nodded.
Snow gathered on the railing between us.
