My sister died giving birth to triplets their father never wanted. I raised them alone for eight years. Life was finally calm — until the day the gate opened, and the man who abandoned them came to take them back.”Don’t do this, Jen. Marrying Chris is a mistake.”Jen, my younger sister, turned to me in her wedding dress, eyes filling with tears.The lace sleeves hung loose around her wrists. She’d lost weight during the engagement. I’d noticed but hadn’t said anything.”You don’t understand,” she said, her voice shaking.

“I love him. I know he messes up, but he always comes back.”I looked at the faint crease between her eyebrows, the one I’d smoothed away more times than I could count.She took my hands. “Please, just… stand with me. Even if you don’t believe in him. Believe in me.”I swallowed everything I wanted to say and nodded.What else could I do? I was her big brother, her shield.We were nothing alike. Jen dreamed in warm colors. She wanted noise and chaos and a house full of children.As a kid, she played “mom” with her dolls, lining them up and scolding them gently when they misbehaved.I planned a life without responsibility: money, travel, freedom, and one day opening an animal shelter.But to me, Jen was my little princess. The one person I’d protect without thinking.
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