Chapter 7 - The Woman He Once Loved Was Gone, but the Love She Left Behind Remained
Months passed.
Adrien and Elena created a new routine.
Breakfast together.
Work.
Evenings with Mia.
Weekends in the garden.
It felt ordinary.
And ordinary was precious.
Adrien began changing.
He smiled more.
He stopped working until midnight.
He came home early.
He learned to cook.
Badly.
One evening Elena tasted his pasta and nearly choked.
“This is terrible.”
“I followed the recipe.”
“You followed it incorrectly.”
“I can buy dinner.”
“Yes.”
He looked offended.
“You're supposed to say it's good.”
“You're supposed to cook good food.”
Mia clapped from her high chair.
Adrien pointed at her.
“Your daughter supports me.”
Elena smiled.
“She supports anyone with cheese.”
They laughed.
Their relationship deepened.
But Elena still carried guilt.
One night she asked:
“Do you still love Isabel?”
Adrien was silent.
Then he answered honestly.
“I love the memory of her.”
Elena nodded.
“But not in the way you think.”
“What way?”
“She gave me Mia.”
He touched Elena's hand.
“And you gave me a life I didn't know I wanted.”
Elena cried.
He wiped her cheek.
“I don't compare you.”
“You don't?”
“No.”
“You really love me?”
“I do.”
He kissed her.
Months later, Adrien proposed.
Not with a giant diamond.
Not at an expensive restaurant.
He proposed in the nursery.
Mia was sleeping.
He knelt beside Elena.
“I spent five years believing the woman I loved abandoned me.”
Elena looked at him.
“Then I found out she left behind the greatest gift of my life.”
He took out a ring.
“This isn't because you're Mia's mother.”
Her eyes filled.
“This is because you're Elena.”
She covered her mouth.
“Marry me.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Really?”
“You're kneeling on a carpet covered in baby food.”
“I had planned something more romantic.”
“This is better.”
They embraced.
Then the nursery door opened.
Mia stood there holding her stuffed rabbit.
Both stared.
Elena laughed.
“You woke her.”
Adrien picked her up.
“She wanted to congratulate us.”
May you like
Mia rested against him.
And for the first time, the house felt like a home.
