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

"Oh, did you now?"

the tower. "But

rising. "Of course I

the beach, dramatic and over-the-top as always. And I sit here, hand on my

This right here?

our happy

ALEX

let out my fake dragon

as a sword and starts swinging at the air

traps, while Alina, my

Deadly ones.

Apparently.

challenge the mighty dragon?" I

squeals, "We shall defeat

prepare to lose, tiny

backward into the sand,

collapse near them with

has been defeated.

throws himself on top of me, cackling like a

"Victory is ours!"

cuts through the breeze, and it hits me all

is what we

up with Asher, still clinging to my back like a monkey, and I

standing now,

pretending the 4like a

with her hair.

looks just as stunning

the day I first laid eyes on heret

now she's more

s

She's mine.

we call the kingdom?" Rayen asks, nudging

tilts her head