Chapter 157

Chapter 157
Dante’s POV

The rest of the morning passed far too quickly.

Bella had apparently decided that making breakfast together wasn’t enough to make up for the years we’d lost.

According to her, I now had an entire day’s worth of responsibilities.

First, I had to watch her newest dance routine. Then I had to judge whether it deserved a gold medal.

After that, I had to help her colour a princess whose dress, for reasons I still didn’t understand, absolutely had to be purple with green sleeves.

When I asked why green, she simply shrugged.

“Because pretty.”

There was no arguing with logic like that.

By the time we were finished colouring, crayons littered the coffee table, Teddy had somehow become part of the royal family, and I’d been officially promoted from Daddy to “Royal Knight.”

Bella took these matters very seriously. “You protect everybody.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She nodded, satisfied with my answer before disappearing down the hallway.

“I get sword.”

Elena laughed beside me. “I should probably stop her before she finds something she shouldn’t.”

“I’ll go.”

I followed Bella just as she reached the storage cupboard.

She looked over her shoulder with a guilty smile. “I only looking.”

“Looking for what?”

“My sword.”

“I don’t think Mommy keeps swords in there.”

“You don’t know.”

“I suppose I don’t.”

She pushed the door open anyway before pulling out a long cardboard tube instead.

“This work.” She held it proudly over her head.

I couldn’t help laughing. “I’ve faced scarier weapons.”

She gasped dramatically. “My sword very scary. I take it back.”

“You should.”

By the time we returned to the living room, Elena was already shaking her head. “You encourage her.”

“I absolutely do.”

Bella climbed onto the sofa between us and rested the cardboard tube across her lap like a queen’s sceptre.

“I queen.”

“I thought you were a princess.”

“I promoted.”

I looked at Elena. “She moves up quickly.”

“Very ambitious.”

Bella smiled proudly. “I important.”

“You certainly are.”

She leaned comfortably against my side as Elena picked up the television remote.

“What do we think?”

“A movie?”

Bella shook her head immediately. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Movie quiet, I want talking.”

Elena laughed. “She’s got a point.”

“So what would Her Majesty like to do instead?”

Bella’s eyes lit up. “Picnic in the garden?”

“Mhmm.” I murmured. 

“Today.” Bella continued. 

I looked through the glass doors toward the backyard. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

The skies were blue and there was sunshine warming the grass without becoming uncomfortable.

“I think that can be arranged.”

Bella threw both hands into the air. “Yay!”

Mrs. Peters insisted on preparing the food despite Elena repeatedly telling her they could manage.

Within half an hour, a large basket sat waiting by the back door.

There were sandwiches, fresh fruits, juice boxes for Bella, coffee for adults and even homemade cookies had somehow found their way inside.

“I packed too much,” Mrs. Peters admitted.

“You always do,” Elena teased. “And yet somehow there’s never anything left because somebody keeps stealing the strawberries.”

Bella looked genuinely offended. “Not me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No?”

She considered it for a second. “…Maybe little.”

I laughed. “I thought so.”

The garden felt different when we weren’t simply passing through it.

A large blanket was spread beneath one of the old trees.

Bella immediately kicked off her shoes before running barefoot across the grass, chasing butterflies she had absolutely no chance of catching.

Elena watched her with a smile. “She’ll sleep well tonight.”

“I hope so.”

We sat together while Bella entertained herself nearby, occasionally running back to announce some incredible discovery.

A ladybug.

A yellow flower.

A cloud that apparently looked exactly like Mrs. Peters.

“I don’t see it,” I admitted.

Bella sighed dramatically. “You need imagination.”

“I’ll work on that.”

She seemed satisfied with the promise before running off again.

For a while, neither Elena nor I spoke. The silence between us felt comfortable and peaceful. It was the kind of silence that only existed between people who no longer needed to fill every quiet moment with words.

Elena rested her head lightly against my shoulder. “You’ve been smiling all day.”

“Have I?”

“Mhm.”

“I missed this.”

“I know.”

I looked out across the garden where Bella was now attempting to introduce Teddy to a butterfly.

“I used to imagine what she’d be like.”

“You told me that once.”

“I was wrong every single time.”

She smiled. “In what way?”

“I imagined a little girl.”

I watched Bella burst into another fit of laughter after the butterfly escaped her.

“But I never imagined… her.”

Elena followed my gaze. “She’s one of a kind.”

“She really is.”

A soft laugh escaped both of us.

“I don’t think prison prepared me for negotiations with tiny queens.”

“No one could prepare you for Bella.”

“I believe that.”

She reached for my hand, intertwining our fingers. For a long moment, we simply sat there, watching Bella fill the garden with life.

It was everything I had dreamed about during the darkest nights. Isabella was my daughter. No prison, no years stolen from us, and no force in this world could ever change that. Not even the man whose blood she carried. 

Lunch came and went with more laughter than conversation.

Bella insisted every sandwich had to be cut into stars.

Mine included.

Apparently, square sandwiches were “boring.”

After eating far more than she claimed she could, Bella curled herself against my side beneath the shade of the tree.

“I’m not sleepy,” she mumbled.

“Of course not.”

“I’m just… resting eyes.”

“I figured.”

Within two minutes, she was asleep. Her small hand remained wrapped around two of my fingers.

I looked down at her peaceful face, the breeze gently stirred the loose curls against her forehead.

I brushed them back carefully. “So this is what I’ve been missing,” I murmured.

Elena looked at me from across the blanket. “You’ve missed a lot.”

I nodded slowly. “I know.”

Then I stared at Bella while she slept, trying to memorize everything.

The tiny crease between her brows, the way her lips parted ever so slightly, the faint freckles scattered across her nose.

I wondered how many afternoons like this I’d never get back.

How many naps.

How many scraped knees.

How many bedtime stories.

How many birthdays.

Moments that had come and gone while I sat behind concrete walls counting days instead of memories.

My chest tightened. I didn’t blame anyone, there was no one to blame. 

Time had simply done what time always did. It had kept moving.

Elena reached across the blanket and rested her hand over mine.

“You still have today.”

I looked at her. “And tomorrow.”

Her smile was small, but steady. “And the day after that.”

I returned my gaze to Bella sleeping peacefully against me.

For the first time in a very long time, I allowed myself to believe that maybe tomorrow was enough.

Maybe I didn’t have to mourn every moment I had lost, maybe I could start learning the ones that still waited for me.

As Bella shifted closer in her sleep, I wrapped my arm around her a little tighter.

I wasn’t letting go.

Not again.