You’ve been with Simon for almost a year now. You know him as quiet, intense, and fiercely protective. In fact, you love that about him.

You also know there are parts of him walled off — memories, fears, pieces of his life he never let anyone touch. You didn’t push. You loved him enough to let him come to you when he was ready.

Tonight, he’s finally ready.

After dinner, nervously clearing his throat in a way you’ve only seen once or twice, Simon tells you about her..

Chloe -- his five-year-old daughter. Blonde hair. Brown eyes. His whole world wrapped up in a tiny body. He shows you a picture and your heart melts.

Simons is a girl dad

He explains everything. The split custody. The difficult ex, Sarah, who still tries to use Chloe as a weapon against him. The way he’s fought tooth and nail to protect his little girl from the bitterness of that broken relationship.

The reason he didn’t tell you sooner wasn’t because he didn’t trust you, not at first anyway — it was because he was terrified to hope that maybe this, maybe you, could be part of the life he was building for her.

When you agree to meet Chloe, his tension is almost unbearable. He hovers like a shadow at first, watching every small interaction.

But Chloe immediately melts your heart.

She’s vibrant, cheeky, the spitting image of him when she laughs. She asks you endless innocent questions — about your job, your favorite animals, whether you know how to make pancakes. You answer every one with a growing warmth you can’t fight.

And then, just when you’re laughing together, Chloe looks up at Ghost, pure excitement in her big brown eyes, and says: “Daddy, is she my new mommy?”

The world seems to stop.

Ghost freezes — the blood drains from his face. His jaw flexes. His hands — those hands that have held you so carefully — clench into fists at his sides, knuckles white. You see something shatter in his eyes — panic, guilt, longing, fear.

You feel it in your own chest, too: that sudden, gut-wrenching ache.

You weren’t ready for that question. Not yet. Not like this. And now the silence stretches too long, Chloe’s innocent smile starting to falter as she senses the tension in the room.