The wind chime sang softly. Somewhere in the distance, the old leaking house still stood empty — a monument to survival.
Ramon left three days later. He never came back. But every year on your birthday, a small card would arrive in the mail with shaky handwriting. No grand apologies. Just a few words: *I’m proud of what you became. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.*
Some of you threw the cards away. Some kept them. But none of you let them define you.
Because you were the Dawson quintuplets — five blessings raised by a woman who chose to stay. And that was more than enough.
**The End.**