Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

ATHENA

Five years later.....

"Rayen, not too much water! You're flooding the whole kingdom!" I call out as I dig my toes into the warm sand.

He rolls his eyes in a way that only a nine-year-old who thinks he's the smartest person alive can. "It's for the moat, Mum. A castle needs a defense system."

"Obviously,” Alex says beside me, reaching over to smear sunscreen across my shoulder. "He gets his strategy from me."

"And the attitude," I mutter, shooting him a look.

A giggle interrupts next to us, two actually, and I glance down to where the twins are crouched by the sandcastle, their little hands covered in wet sand and their faces glowing with excitement.

Four years old and already impossible to keep still.

Asher is trying to carve a tunnel through the base of the castle while Alina carefully arranges seashells on the turrets.

Both of them have blonde hair like spun sunlight and green eyes sharp as emeralds.

Totally miniature versions of their father.

I swear my genes didn't even put up a fight.

"I carried them for nine months," I grumble playfully, poking Alex in the side. "I went through labor, and all I got was being the emotional support parent. You took all the genes."

Alex laughs, the sound low and warm, pulling me closer with an arm around my waist. "You gave them your heart. That's the most important part."

I try to pretend I'm annoyed, but my smile betrays me. I rest my head on his shoulder, watching our children build a kingdom in the sand like the world has never known pain.

This.

This is the life I never thought I'd have.

Rayen runs up suddenly, tossing himself into the sand beside me and brushing sand off his shorts.

"Mum, guess what?"

"What?"

you queen of the

"Oh, did you now?"

from the tower. "But Daddy has to

already rising. "Of course

dramatic and over-the-top as always. And I sit here, hand on my heart, watching the man I once hated become the

This right here?

is our happy

ALEX

I let out my fake dragon

sword and starts swinging at the air with all the serious intensity

traps, while Alina,

Deadly ones.

Apparently.

challenge the mighty dragon?"

shall defeat you with

prepare to

backward into the sand, her curls bouncing with every

near them

slain. The dragon has been defeated. Oh

throws himself on top of me,

"Victory is ours!"

and it hits me

what we

Asher, still clinging to my

standing now, her

4like

playing with

just as stunning

day I first laid eyes on

she's more

s

She's mine.

should we call the kingdom?" Rayen asks, nudging

head