“Daddy’s home!” Chloe thumps to the front door, and Ella and I step back inside, jumping up into my arms with an excitement I know I’ll struggle to remember one day when the teen years eventually come to haunt us.

“Hey, honey.” I give her a big bear hug, careful not to squeeze her too tight as her tiny frame disappears in my folded arms.

“And Ella’s back too,” she announces as my mother finally catches up to her, smiling at us as we close the door behind us.

“Hi,” I hear Ella’s soft voice behind me as I place my daughter back down on the floor.

“That’s something we need to talk about, Chloe. Just give me a second to take my shoes off and we’ll have a little chat, okay?” I muss up her hair, flipping her fiery locks from side to side.

“Awww, do we have to? I don’t feel like having a talk, Daddy.” She pouts a little.

“Oh, and what do you feel like doing?” I watch with amusement as her little pout quickly transforms into excitement.

“What I really want to do is play!” She hops from foot to foot in a little dance.

“Well, let’s talk first and then we’ll see about playing,” I answer her gently. “Hey, Mom, you already met Ella before.” I nod to the woman I haven’t really explained to my mother yet. “You wanna stay and have tea while we talk with Chloe?”

“Sure, sure,” Mom agrees, looking from Ella’s face to mine and back again. “I’ll go put on a kettle.” She practically skips away.

I have a feeling Mom thinks this is going to be a different kind of announcement than it is. Like, the kind you make to your family and friends after you’ve bent down on one knee and slipped a ring on a finger.

I shake my head and start to walk into the house, but Ella stands still in the entryway, staring.

“Aren’t you coming?” I tilt my head and watch as I try to make sense of the swirling emotions on her face.

“Yes, sorry, I just… I guess I just realized this is a home,” she answers cryptically.

“Um, yes,” I say the word slowly, waiting for her to fill in the blanks. “It’s a house.”

“No, I know that.” She gives a quick but forced smile. “I mean a home, like this is my new home. The first one I’ve had since, well.” Her words grow too thick to spill from her mouth, choking her up as her eyes water. “These are happy tears,” she explains as she wipes her hands under her eyes.

“Shhh, it’s all right.” I pull her in and rest my chin on the top of her head. “I understand.” I rub my hand down her back quickly, like I’m trying to sweep the sadness free from her body.

“I’m good, don’t worry.” Ella steps back and her tears have dried up.

“Good, let’s go talk to Chloe about all of this. I just want to make sure she understands you’ll be living here now.” I lead her down the hall to the dining room where Mom has prepared a pot of tea, complete with sugar packets and milk. “Wow, thanks for setting this up.” I sit down in my chair and everyone gathers around the table, taking their own seats.

“Chloe.”

My daughter is very interested in flicking a sugar packet back and forth and not in what I have to say.

“Uh-huh?” Flick, flick, flick. She doesn’t bother to look up at me.

I pour some tea with a sigh. “Honey, can you put that down for a sec? I’d like to tell you something.” I fill my cup and put the pot down, waiting for her to listen.

“What’s up, Dad?” She smirks at me, plopping the sugar down.

“Honey, I wanted to let you know that Ella is going to be living with us from now on. When I have to work at night, she’ll be helping to take care of you, understand?”

I watch as my daughter looks over at my mother and then at Ella. “What about Nana?” Her eyes grow wide. “Isn’t she gonna look after me anymore?” Worry tinges her little voice.

“Of course I will,” my mother answers for me with a kind smile. “But I’m sure you’re going to have a fantastic time with Ella too.” Mom understands right away what’s going on here and might burst with happiness.

“I dunno.” Chloe furrows her red eyebrows together. “Ella? Do you like to play pony dolls?” She tries, sizing her up.

Ella stirs some milk into her tea cup and confusion crosses her tender features. “Pony dolls?” She looks at Chloe for clarification.

“Yeah, you know, ponies!” Chloe says the word slower, like that will help explain everything. “Like Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity,” she lists off the names on each finger.

“Oh, do you mean My Little Pony?” I can see her make the connection and Chloe beams.

“Yup! Pony dolls!”

“I loved playing with them when I was a kid.” Ella gets surprisingly animated and, for a second, she and my daughter share the same look of wide-eyed joy. It’s hard not to laugh.

“Dad? Can we be done talking now?”

“Sure, hon.” I shrug at how nonchalant she is about the whole ‘this new woman is going to be living here’ thing. Little did I know, all this time, anyone could become her best friend forever just by sharing her love of imaginary, talking horses.

“Great!” She jumps off the chair and runs as fast as she can into the other room. I can hear Chloe digging around through stuff and then huff and puff as she drags something in from the play room.

As I turn in my chair, I can’t help but laugh as I watch my four-year-old struggle to drag an entire castle that’s probably half her size, crammed full of ponies into the dining room.

“Let’s play now, Ella,” she exclaims gleefully.

“Chloe.” I can see she’s not listening to me at all. “Chloe! Hey! How about you just relax a bit and let Ella rest? We just got home and she just sat down,” I try to explain.

“Is that Twilight Sparkle?” My head snaps around on my neck toward Ella as I do a double take at her question.

“It is!” Chloe holds out a little purple horse proudly.

“Oh, she was always my favorite.” Ella stands up and walks over to Chloe.

“Mine too!” Chloe swirls her arms in wide circles.

“Well, maybe I can play for a bit.” Ella helps Chloe pick up her toys and walks out of the room with her, leading her back to the play area.

Chloe leaps like a tiny ballerina after her, barely being able to contain her excitement in her little body. I shake my head and chuckle.

“Well, it looks like they’ll hit it off just fine.” Mom laughs and I sip my tea.

“Yeah, that wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” I agree.

“That’s how you know it was meant to be.” Mom rests her hand on mine. “I see the way you look at her, Jackson. I’m so happy you found love.”

“Love? I don’t know about that.” I brush off the comment and sit up a little straighter.

“That’s okay if you don’t know it yet. You will.” She taps my hand with her fingers before taking a long sip of her tea knowingly.

Love? The word floats through my mind as I think it over for the first time. My shoulders relax, realizing that my mother might just be right. Not that I’m going to share that with her right now. That I may have finally found the woman I’m ready to open my heart to.