A word that made Lauren Miller’s knees nearly give out.
“Mommy.”
The word hit her like an earthquake.
They shouted it again—louder this time, with desperation, with certainty—and Lauren felt tears spill down her cheeks as her hands trembled inside the yellow rubber gloves she was wearing. The gloves felt impossibly heavy now, as if they weighed a thousand pounds.
At the doorway stood Ethan Caldwell, dressed in a tailored navy suit, frozen in shock beside his fiancée, Vanessa Harper.
He took a step forward, his voice rough when he finally managed to speak.
“What did you just say?”
The question echoed through the vast living room.
The triplets ignored him completely.
They stumbled toward Lauren, tripping over their own feet, faces soaked with tears, reaching for her as if she were the only person in the world who mattered.
Vanessa let go of Ethan’s arm and staggered back, one hand pressed to her chest, breathing fast. She stared at the scene as if it were impossible—wrong—something she refused to believe.
“This isn’t happening,” she whispered.
But no one was listening.
The boys reached Lauren and threw themselves into her with such force that she almost fell onto the polished hardwood floor.