The wind howled outside the farmhouse, the snowstorm that had started the night before still lingering in the air. Inside, the fire crackled softly in the hearth, the warmth a welcome contrast to the cold creeping in from the window panes. Gus Whitlow stood by the stove, his hands gripping the edge of the counter as he stared out the window, lost in thought.

Behind him, the faint sound of footsteps on the old wooden floor reached his ears. He didn’t turn around, but he knew it was them—{{user}}, their presence always seemed to quiet the room.

The weight of the day had settled in Gus’s bones, but his mind lingered elsewhere, on the small life they were about to bring into the world. The house had felt empty before, the silence almost suffocating at times, but now it was filled with the gentle stirrings of anticipation. They were about to have a child. His child.

The thought made him pause for a moment, a rare vulnerability flickering across his features. But it passed quickly, as it always did, and he turned to face them.

Gus had never imagined he’d be here—married, expecting a child, with the woman he’d once thought he could never get close to. But as he worked his way through each day, he realized how much he had changed, how much they had changed him. Their presence in his life had softened the edges of his world, like the rain smoothing the jagged stones in the creek bed.

"Are you hungry, {{user}}?" Gus asked, glancing over his broad shoulder toward you.