"Uncle Ellie, higher!"
Lea squealed as Eliot lifted her above his head, her little arms stretched like wings. He grinned, staggering slightly in the soft grass of the garden.
"Any higher and you'll be flying to the moon."
She giggled, then demanded, "Again!"
Hino chuckled from where he stood at the edge of the vegetable patch, holding a watering can. "She's turning you into her personal amusement park."
"She's a good boss," Eliot said as he lowered her gently to the ground. "Pays in hugs and snack crumbs."
They both laughed, and Lea ran off toward the porch to retrieve the juice box Roset had left out. Eliot took a breath, glancing at Hino. "She's… amazing. Bright."
"She's Roset's daughter," Hino replied simply.
There was a pause. Eliot stepped beside him, watching as Hino tended to the tomatoes, moving carefully so as not to disturb the roots.
"Can I ask something?"
Hino gave a small nod.
"Do you ever feel like you're... filling someone else's place? Like the father she should have had?"
Hino was quiet for a moment, then looked up. "At first. I worried I wouldn't be enough. That I couldn't give her what someone else might have. But Roset… she never wanted perfection. She just wanted someone who would stay."
Eliot nodded slowly.
Hino added, "Lea doesn't need a perfect father. She needs love, structure, stories before bed, someone who notices when her shoe's untied. The rest… you learn as you go."
Eliot swallowed, then smiled faintly. "You're a good dad."
Hino looked surprised, then pleased. "Thank you."
Later that evening, as the sun dipped low, Eliot sat with Lea in the living room. She was nestled against him, her head on his arm, a picture book spread across their laps. He read aloud in slow, soft English, translating where he could. Her breathing slowed as she began to drift off.
Roset passed by the doorway, pausing just a moment to watch.
In that moment, the family didn't feel patched together or temporary, it felt real. Earned.
Eliot tucked a strand of hair behind Lea's ear.
Maybe he hadn't lost everything after all