"Mom, can I go for a sleepover to Jack on Saturday?"

"Of course, honey. Just please answer the phone when I or Dad call you."

"I want to go too."

"No! We don't take little girls with us."

"I'm not little!"

Sunday morning at Riley's house started as usual. Eleven-year-old Alex teased his younger sister with an acquired independence called "sleepovers with friends," and six-year-old Sophie, who was in the age of admiration for her brother, always wanted to follow him. And, well, Alex, being almost a teenager, was outraged by his younger sister's clinginess.

Simon was standing by the counter, without a T-shirt, wearing only sweatpants, which he slept in even before he met you. He put the mug under the coffee nozzle and pressed the right button on the machine. You were standing next to me, pouring another batch of pancakes into the pan, in your home coat and slippers, your hair disheveled, not even tied up in a ponytail yet.

Beautiful. You were beautiful.

More and more often, he wondered how he could have done without you at all. How did he live without you? Was that bachelor and renounced life really good? Was he satisfied with his house, which was almost empty before you appeared and flourished when you came and transformed a plain building into a place for a family?

Simon hardly wanted to believe it. It didn't sound right.

While the children were arguing in the background, his son was teetering on the edge so that his daughter wouldn't burst into Oscar-winning tears, Simon took a step towards you. You both had a few free seconds while he waited for the coffee to be made, and you watched the dough set in the pan.

"C'mere."

You let out a small cry as his arms wrapped around your waist and then lifted you up onto his shoulders. You widened your eyes, clutching his shoulders, and then Simon pulled on your ankle in one motion, and you slid down, rolling over in the process. His hand was under your knee, his other hand was holding you behind your back, and he was smiling.

It was hard to believe that it was him, your grown-up husband, father of two children, and a special forces Lieutenant. Because now?

Right now, he looked like a teenager in love, holding you in his arms.