Ellie had been woven into their lives from the very beginning.

Born into the same circle of family dinners and chaotic holidays, she grew up trailing behind the triplets, a few years younger but never excluded. They were her constants. Her protectors. Her built-in best friends.

And Matt?

Matt had always been her person.

He was the one who carried her when she got tired, who let her fall asleep on his shoulder during movies, who looked at her like she was something worth guarding. Even when they grew up. Even when the cameras came and their lives shifted to influencer events and California sun. Distance never touched what they had.

Until it did.

Ellie stayed in Boston. Fell in love. Got pregnant.

And the second her boyfriend found out, everything unraveled. The relationship crashed and burned before she could even process what was happening. He disappeared when she needed him most.

The triplets never forgave that.

So when they found out she was alone with a newborn baby girl, there wasn’t a discussion. There wasn’t hesitation.

They brought her home.

California became hers too. A bedroom for Ellie. A nursery down the hall. Three overprotective uncles who treated her daughter like she hung the moon.

Especially Matt.

He was impossibly gentle with her little girl. The same softness he once had for Ellie now mirrored in the way he cradled the baby, the way he paced the floor at 2 a.m., whispering nonsense lullabies. He learned how to warm bottles, how to rock her just right, how to make her tiny hiccuping cries turn into giggles.

One night, Ellie stirred at the sound of her baby crying through the monitor.

Her heart jumped. She pushed back the covers, already moving toward the door.

But when she reached the nursery, she paused.

All three boys were already there.

Chris was making ridiculous faces. Nick was dramatically narrating the situation like it was a reality show. And Matt… Matt was holding her daughter carefully, bouncing her gently, smiling down at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

The baby’s cries had turned into tiny, breathless laughs.

Ellie stood in the doorway, unnoticed, chest tight with emotion.

Her daughter wasn’t fatherless.

She was surrounded.

And as Matt looked up and caught Ellie watching, something unspoken passed between them.

You’re not alone anymore.

And for the first time in a long time, she believed it.