The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 324

Chapter 324 Welcome to the family

Mia’s POV

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Madison’s question hung in the bathroom air like steam from the hot water. I kept working the shampoo through her hair.

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” I said, because lying to children never worked.

Madison’s shoulders started to shake.

“I already don’t have a daddy,” she whispered. Her voice was so small I had to lean closer to hear her. “He got sick and went to heaven.”

The tears started then, mixing with the bath water and the shampoo suds sliding down her face. I reached for the handheld shower head to rinse her hair, but my own vision had blurred.

“Madison,” I said, and my voice came out thicker than I intended. “Sometimes grown–ups make mistakes. Big ones. And sometimes kids get hurt because of those mistakes, even when the grown- ups love them.”

She turned to look at me, her eyes red and swimming. “Did my mom love me?”

The question was a knife between my ribs. I thought about Victoria’s perfectly manicured nails digging into Madison’s arm outside the school. I thought about the hunger in Madison’s face when she watched other children eat.

“I think your mom loves you the way she knows how,” I said carefully. “But sometimes people are sick in ways that make it hard for them to take care of the people they love properly.”

Madison considered this while I rinsed the last of the shampoo from her hair. The water ran clear now, no more tangles or grime.

“Am I going to live here forever?” she asked.

“I don’t know about forever,” I said. “But you’re safe here tonight, and tomorrow, and for as long as you need to be. Does that sound okay?”

She nodded, but fresh tears spilled over her cheeks. “I want my daddy,” she said. “Even if I can’t have my mom, I want my daddy back.”

That’s when I started crying too. Madison wanting her dead father back reminded me of my own children, who barely remembered asking about their dad anymore. Who might never know Kyle at

all.

I tried to muffle the sound against my shoulder, but Madison noticed immediately.

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Chapter 324 Welcome to the family

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“Why are you sad?” she asked, reaching out to touch my wet face with one small, pruned finger.

“Because sometimes I miss people too,” I said. “And because I’m sad that you’re hurt.”

Madison climbed out of the tub and into the towel I held for her. Her body was so light, like holding a

bird.

“Are you a good grown–up?” she asked as I wrapped the towel around her.

“I try to be,” I said. “I make mistakes sometimes, but I try.”

Setting up the makeshift bedroom took longer than I’d expected. The twins wanted to help, which meant every decision required extensive discussion and negotiation. Where should Madison’s mattress go? Who got which blanket? Did Gas need his own sleeping area or could he choose where to sleep?

Alexander was in full hosting mode, explaining house rules and routines with the earnest intensity of a four–year–old who took responsibility seriously.

“We brush our teeth for two whole songs,” he told Madison, who was standing in the doorway wearing one of my old t–shirts as a nightgown. It fell past her knees and made her look even smaller. “Usually we sing ‘Happy Birthday‘ twice, but sometimes we sing the alphabet song if we’re feeling

creative.”

“What if I don’t know the words?” Madison asked.

“That’s okay,” Ethan said, appearing beside his brother. “Alexander doesn’t know all the words to anything. He just makes up the parts he forgets.”

“I do not make up words,” Alexander protested. “I improvise. That’s different.”

“What’s improvise?” Madison asked.

“It’s when you do your best with what you have,” I said, shaking out a blanket and spreading it over the mattress I’d positioned next to the twins‘ bed. “Like how we’re all learning to be together tonight.

་་

Madison watched me arrange pillows and stuff her small backpack into the corner where she could see it. She hadn’t let go of that backpack since Thomas brought her here, clutching it against her chest like a shield.

“Madison,” I said gently, “would you like to put your things somewhere safe? Maybe in the dresser, or we could find a special spot for your backpack?”

She shook her head quickly. “I want to keep it with me.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “Whatever makes you feel safe.”

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Chapter 324 Welcome to the family

+25 BONUS

The twins had finished their negotiations about blanket distribution and were now focused on the more important question of bedtime entertainment.

“We usually read stories,” Ethan explained to Madison. “Do you like stories?”

Madison nodded.

“What kind of stories do you like?” Alexander asked.

Madison was quiet for a moment, thinking. “I like stories about families,” she said finally.

“We have family stories,” Alexander said immediately. “We have books about bears who are families, and mice families, and even dinosaur families, which is cool because dinosaur kids probably had very different problems than regular kids.”

“Like what kind of problems?” Madison asked, and I was relieved to hear genuine curiosity in her

voice.

“Well,” Alexander said, settling cross–legged on his mattress and warming to his subject, “dinosaur kids probably had to worry about volcanos and giant meteors and whether their parents would get eaten by bigger dinosaurs. So their bedtime fears were probably way more interesting than ours.”

“What are your bedtime fears?” Madison asked.

“Sometimes I worry that Mom will be sad and won’t tell us,” Ethan said quietly.

Madison looked at me, then back at Ethan. “Does your mom get sad?”

“Sometimes,” Alexander said. “But she tells us about it usually, and we try to help her feel better.”

“How do you help?” Madison asked.

“We hug her a lot,” Alexander said. “And sometimes we make her laugh by doing silly dances or building her towers out of blocks.”

“And we tell her we love her more than all the dinosaurs,” Ethan added.

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