Everyone cheered.
Later, Elo and Daniel danced under the oak tree lights.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Happier than I ever thought I’d be,” she said.
“Good,” he replied. “Because I plan to keep you this happy for a very long time.”
“Deal,” she said, laughing.
After law school, big firms came calling, but Elo turned them down.
“The pay is higher,” one recruiter told her. “You’d have more resources.”
“I’m not doing this for money,” she said. “I’m doing it because it matters.”
She chose the Children’s Rights Coalition, a nonprofit that fought for kids in court.
Her first major case there involved twelve children in a foster system riddled with neglect.
In court, she faced state lawyers and a tangle of policies.
“These children were failed by the system meant to protect them,” she told the judge. “They deserve justice. They deserve reform.”
After three grueling weeks, the court ruled in their favor. Policies were overhauled. The children received compensation and access to therapy.
“You believed us when nobody else did,” one girl told her outside the courthouse.
“I’ll always believe you,” Elo said.
By then, the Eloin Vale Foundation had helped thousands of kids. It expanded to multiple cities, then multiple states. Sky, who had earned her degree in social work, joined the foundation full-time, working directly with families.
“Now we’re officially co-workers,” Elo said the day Sky signed her contract.
“This is perfect,” Sky said.
A few years later, Elo and Daniel found out they were expecting.
“Daniel,” she said one afternoon, holding the test in her hand. “I’m pregnant.”
He picked her up and spun her around.
“We’re having a baby,” he said, laughing. “We’re having a baby.”
They told everyone—Ariston, who cried openly; Sky, who screamed; the foundation staff, who cheered.
The pregnancy wasn’t easy. Morning sickness. Exhaustion. Old fears creeping in late at night.
“What if I don’t know how to be a good mom?” she asked her father one evening.
“You’ll figure it out,” he said. “Just love her. Protect her. Listen to her.”
“I will,” she said. “I promise.”
At seven months, they learned it was a girl.
“A daughter,” Elo said in the ultrasound room, tears running down her cheeks. “We’re having a daughter.”
They named her Maya.
When Maya was born, Elo held her in her arms and felt something in her chest break open and reassemble into something stronger.