"?????????'? ??????"

In the small, quiet moments between the chaos of their day-to-day lives, Iris felt a warmth in the air that made her chest swell with a quiet kind of peace. This warmth was something she hadn’t known for a long time, not since before the cruel man had taken her and destroyed everything she had once loved.

Before that darkness, Iris had been surrounded by the soft glow of her mother’s love. Her mother, with her kind smile and gentle touch, had been her world, her family. They had lived in a small cabin, where love and laughter filled the air. But that was a distant memory now, a part of her life that had been ripped away in an instant.

As Iris sat on the porch one quiet evening, the soft glow of the setting sun casting a golden hue over the house, Nathan came out to join her. He had been quieter than usual, his face slightly strained, but there was something reassuring about his presence beside her.

“Everything okay?” Iris asked softly, sensing that something was on his mind.

Nathan hesitated for a moment, looking out at the horizon before finally meeting her gaze. “I was just thinking about how far we’ve come,” he said. “I know this place isn’t much, but I hope it’s a place you can feel safe and happy in. I hope it's a home for you.”

Iris nodded, her heart swelling with emotions she hadn't allowed herself to feel in a long time. “I never thought I’d have a place like this again,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But... with you, it feels like I’m starting to remember what it was like... before. When I had a family.”

Nathan’s face softened, his eyes filled with understanding. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “You do have a family, Iris. You’ve always had one, even when you didn’t know it. And you’ll always have me, no matter what.”

Tears welled up in Iris’s eyes, but this time they weren’t born from the pain of loss. They were the tears of someone who had finally found something she thought she would never have again—a sense of belonging, of being loved, of being seen.

“I’m so grateful,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “I never thought I’d feel this way again.”

Nathan gave her a soft smile, his hand still resting on her shoulder. “You’ve given me a reason to be grateful too, Iris. You’ve made this place feel like home for me too.”

For a moment, they simply sat there together, the quiet peace of the evening settling over them. It wasn’t the grandest of homes, and it wasn’t the most luxurious, but in that moment, Iris knew that she had everything she needed—she had love, she had safety, and most of all, she had Nathan.

And that was enough.