Chapter 133

AURORA'S POV

I stood up too fast. My legs were shaky, like I had forgotten how to use them. Leo’s little voice echoed in the hallway, and that one word just kept ringing in my ears. Dad. He said Dad. He called Cassian that.

Cassian’s footsteps came next. Slower. Measured. Like he knew what just happened was not small. He stepped into the room with Leo at his side, holding a paper crown made of construction paper and tape. My mouth was dry.

“Mama, look!” Leo lifted the crown like it was a real royal thing. “Dad helped me make it. And we saw ducks. One of them chased me.” His eyes were shining, cheeks flushed with joy. He bounced as he talked.

Cassian met my eyes, and there was something strange there. Not pride exactly. Not surprise either. Something deeper. Like he wanted to speak but did not dare ruin the moment. He knelt beside Leo instead, brushing dust from his jeans.

“You said Dad,” I said softly, mostly to myself. I knelt too, trying to smile but my face would not work right. “You called him that just now, baby. You never did before.” My hand trembled as I touched Leo’s hair.

Leo looked up like it was no big deal. “Well, he is,” he said with a shrug. “Right? I mean, he is my Dad.” He said it again. This time slower. With more weight. And I forgot how to breathe for a second.

Cassian shifted beside him but did not speak. His hand hovered near Leo’s back like he was afraid to touch him without permission. That silence between them spoke louder than anything else. It filled every corner of the room.

“Leo,” I said quietly, “do you know what that word means?” I was not trying to ruin it. I just… needed to hear him explain. I needed to know he understood. That this was real and not just a slip of excitement.

Leo nodded hard. “Dad means he is mine,” he said. “Like how I am yours. I used to not say it because I did not know if he wanted me.” My heart cracked again. That word. Wanted. It broke me in half.

Cassian let out a sound. It was not loud. More like a breath catching in his throat. He looked at me, and then at Leo, and said, “I wanted you. I always did. I just did not know how to be what you needed.”

Leo frowned a little. “You are being it now,” he said simply. “You do not have to be perfect. I just like when you laugh. And chase ducks. And buy too much ice cream.” His voice was soft near the end.

“I bought five kinds,” Cassian admitted, a little sheepish. “I did not know what he liked.” He stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. “So I got everything. Even the ones with sprinkles.” His voice cracked on the word sprinkles.

“Dad even let me eat gummy worms,” Leo said proudly, holding up his fingers like he was counting medals. “And he said I can make muffins with him next time.” He grinned like he had won something no one else could touch.

I stared at Cassian like I had never seen him before. Like this man in my living room was some stranger wearing his face but filled with something warmer. Something truer. He was still flawed. Still complicated. But not cold.

Cassian moved closer, slow like he did not want to startle me. “I did not tell him to say it,” he said. “It just… happened. We were talking about animals. And he asked if I was his real Dad. And I said yes.”

My throat tightened. “And then?” I asked, not even sure why. Maybe I wanted to hear it again. Maybe I needed to. Cassian looked down, his voice low like a secret passed between friends under a blanket fort.

“He said okay,” he replied. “Just like that. Like he had already decided. Like it was not a question anymore. And then he called me Dad. Just once. But it hit me so hard I forgot what I was supposed to say back.”

Leo tugged at my sleeve. “Are you mad?” he asked, his face suddenly unsure. “I did not mean to make you sad.” His voice quivered, and his little chin wobbled like it always did before he started crying.

I pulled him into my arms so fast it made us both fall back onto the couch. “No, baby,” I whispered against his hair. “I am not mad. I am just… surprised. And a little full in the heart. That is all.”

He wrapped his arms around my neck, squeezing tight. “You can call him Dad too if you want,” he offered. “But only if you feel like it.” Cassian let out a soft laugh from the doorway, and I could hear him swallowing hard.

“I think she has her own names for me,” Cassian said with a crooked smile. “Not all of them nice.” I shot him a glare, but it was weak and half-hearted. I was still stuck in the space between pride and panic.

“Do not get used to it,” I warned, still holding Leo. “It could be a phase.” But even as I said it, I knew better. That little boy did not do phases. He only gave his heart once. And when he gave it, it was for good.

Cassian sat down on the far end of the couch, leaving space between us like a truce. “I know I do not deserve this,” he said, looking at Leo. “But I will not take it for granted. I will protect it with everything I have.”

Leo clapped his hands. “That means you are like a knight,” he said. “And I am the prince. Mama can be the queen. But not the mean kind with pointy hats. The good kind who makes soup.” I laughed then. I could not help it.

Cassian leaned back, watching me laugh like he had never seen it before. Like it was a gift he forgot existed. The kind you do not ask for, but treasure when it shows up unwrapped and unexpected on your doorstep.

“I should go put the ice cream in the freezer before it melts,” he said after a while, standing up. “Some of it might already be soup too.” His voice had that dry humor again. It was oddly comforting. Familiar.

I nodded and watched him walk away toward the kitchen. Leo wiggled down from my lap, chasing after him. “I want the one with the rainbow bits,” he called. “And you have to try it too. It tastes like birthdays.”

I sat alone on the couch again. Only now the silence was not heavy. It was soft. Like something had cracked open inside the house, and the light was peeking through. Maybe it would not last. But maybe it could.

The sound of the freezer door thudding shut came next. Then spoons clinking. And laughter. Two voices. One deep. One high. Woven together like a song I used to know but forgot the words to. My chest hurt. But not in a bad way.

I reached for my phone without thinking. Opened my texts. I stared at Elias’s last message again. Then deleted it. I did not know why. Maybe I just needed to hear quiet for once. Or maybe I was just scared of noise.

I stood and walked to the kitchen doorway. Watched them from the shadows. Cassian had a smear of chocolate on his chin. Leo was grinning like a cartoon. And somehow, they looked like a family I barely recognized. But also… did.

Then a knock came at the front door. Sharp. Too sharp for this soft afternoon. My stomach tightened. I looked at Cassian. He had already turned, his face suddenly unreadable. Like he knew something I did not. Yet.

And everything shifted again.