My Love Until the Last Goodbye by Alut

"What chance, love?" Celeste asked, not quite understanding what he meant.

"You gave me the chance to be a father. To watch my blood grow day by day. You gave me the chance to see two little pieces of me come to life. I love seeing your face in our daughters. I love how, even though they're identical, they're already so different in personality.

"I really do love them with everything I am-and everything I have," Peter said, glancing at his daughters in the rearview mirror, then at the woman by his side.

"Thank you, Peter..." Celeste said, her eyes welling with tears.

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked, gently wiping a tear from her cheek.

"For coming back for me. For being persistent. For ignoring me when I tried to push you away. For being there when I needed you most. For being stubborn, for being you... Thank you.

"And I mean it—if you hadn't insisted... honestly, I don't know how I would've managed alone with the girls," she said, her voice catching as she remembered those first lonely days in Willowcombe after coming back from Slovenia.

"I love you, Celeste. And it's that love that makes me want to be the best version of myself for you and for them.

"I might not remember my past, but please know that today, I would never do anything to hurt you or our daughters. I just want a happy life with you, with my girls, with our family.

under that big ash tree in the backyard. I want breakfast as a family. I want evenings by your side, with our daughters. I love every night we spend together, making love until we can't take anymore. I love your passion, your devotion, the woman you

even Theodore, his closest confidant-knew the secret he

too vivid to ignore. His mind had taken him back to a moment-one he

had been

saw within it: a woman he now recognized as Valeria-his best friend's wife-holding his hand, looking

dream hadn't

It was a memory.

felt the tightness in his chest from what he saw, he got up, put on his pajamas, and left the room. He went to

calmed something in him-gave

returned to his bedroom There, he saw Celeste, fast asleep and bare under

out onto the balcony, letting the night air clear his head. He knew it wasn't just a dream. Everything in it had felt

had been

lived but had

him

of it for a long while,