After helping Vic prepare the dessert bar, I follow the girls into the family room, and I’m stunned. A princess fort stretches across the room like a little palace, beautifully decorated with twinkling fairy lights. Miniature tables draped in pink and gold are set up for the dessert bar. A projector screen waits with The Princess and the Frog queued up. The whole space is transformed into something out of a fairytale.

I blink in awe. “Oh my goodness, this is beautiful! How long did it take Ms. Tina and the team to set this up?”

Ari tilts her head, confused. “Daddy did this. He decorates every weekend. We pick the theme, and he makes it happen.”

My gaze snaps to Vic. He looks embarrassed in the cutest way.

Then, he clears his throat, shifting under my scrutiny. “The girls wanted a princess night.”

Syd grins, practically vibrating with excitement. “Because, Daddy, we’re your princesses, and you’re the king! And now that Ms. Kind is here…”

Ari smiles sweetly. “We finally have a queen.”

Their words warm my heart, and my throat suddenly tightens.

King. Queen. Princesses. A family. Something I have yet to create on my own. But tonight, I get to live in my own little fairy tale.

The night is pure magic. We have a princess tea party with cinnamon rolls, giggling between bites. We sing along to every song in The Princess and the Frog, dramatically belting out lyrics while Vic shakes his head, pretending he’s too cool to join in.

But it’s inside the fort where we tell our own fairytales, where we create our own happily ever afters.

By the end of the night, we’re tangled together in a pile of blankets—Syd nestled against Vic, Ari curled against me, our hands clasped between them.

Just as their eyes begin to droop, Syd lets out a sleepy sigh. “Ari, is this what it feels like to have a mommy?”

I feel Vic tense beside me. His thumb stops brushing over my hand.

We both wait.

Ari was only four when she lost her mother. She barely remembers her. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose the greatest love you never even got the chance to know.

Syd stirs again. “Ari?”

Ari’s lips press into a faint smile. “Yes, Syd. This is what it feels like to have a mommy.”

Syd hums contentedly. “This is the best day ever.”

A tear slips down my face before I can stop it, but Vic wipes it away and then flashes an assuring smile.

The house is quiet now, the girls deep in their dreams, tangled up in the blankets inside their princess fort. The night was perfect—pure, unfiltered happiness, filled with laughter, cinnamon rolls, and fairytale endings that felt a little too close to reality.