But as I looked at my young wife, I had to remind myself that she was only trying to help. She had first hand experience on the single father gig. She knew how hard it was. After her mother died, her father had been her sole parent. Like me, I was sure he did the best he could to make sure his little girl never felt like she went without.

And as I glanced at my sons, my chest grew taut.

Her father was all she had, and I had taken that from her.

Immediately humbled, I moved, not stopping until I was directly in front of her. She looked up at me and when I peered down at her, I felt warmth spread around my middle. I leant down to press a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Thanks,” and was immediately rewarded with that honey sweet smile I loved so much and suddenly, those intrusive thoughts fled.

Now, as I hunched over my desk unable to see clearly anymore, a quick glance at my wristwatch told me why. It was past two in the morning. With a long, drawn-out breath, I got up, leaving my jacket and tie behind and decided to sneak into bed with my sleeping wife.

Only, my sleeping wife wasn’t there. And so began my search. It didn’t take long to find her. Vittoria sat upright on one sofa with the laptop I’d bought her resting on her thighs and she was typing a mile a minute. In fact, she hadn’t even noticed my approach. But what surprised me was that she wasn’t alone. Sleeping on the sofa across from her was Ella and it looked as though she’d been asleep for some time.

Vittoria sighed, lifting her arms up above her head, linking her hands and stretching her back out. She moved her head from side-to-side, hissing lightly as she worked out a kink in her neck. And I frowned. “What are you doing?”

She jumped, spooked, and when she turned to face me, I found her glare to be even more adorable than her smile. “Jesus Christ. Don’t do that. I have the heart of a canary. One bad scare is all it’ll take. You’ll find me cold and lifeless on the cage floor in the morning.”

A reluctant smile pulled at my lips.

I was coming to find that my wife was funny.

I observed my sleeping daughter. “Why isn’t she in bed?”

Vittoria had since gone back to typing. “She said you normally let her stay up to watch Love Island.”

My, “She’s twelve. You let her watch that garbage?” had her stilling.