When Ivan returned at dawn, exhausted and with his hands soaked with the smell of damp earth and leaves, the first thing he noticed was the silence.
A strange silence.
Too deep, too cold.
His house was never completely silent: there was always a creak, a murmur, his wife’s cough from the bedroom. But now… nothing.
He looked toward the kitchen: the table was empty.
The girls were no longer there.
The tea had grown cold in the abandoned cups.
His heart sank in his chest.
„Girls?” he called, his voice breaking. „Ari? Marina?”
No one answered.
He moved toward his wife’s room. He loved her, even though life had built walls between them. For years she had been paralyzed, unable to speak; she could only blink or let out muffled sounds. But she was still there, alive, present.
She opened the door slowly… and gasped.
The girls were on the bed.
Ari, on his knees, placed a hand on his mother’s forehead.
Marina stared into her eyes.
And his wife… she was smiling.
Yes, she was smiling.
For the first time in a long time, her face was no longer a rigid mask.
„What have you done?” Ivan stammered, choked.
The girls turned slowly.
Something strange shone in their eyes, a light that hadn’t been there the night before.
„Ionuț Dănțul isn’t suffering anymore,” Marina said calmly.
„He was very sad, but now he’s fine,” Ari added.
Ivan shook his head, unable to understand. He approached, trembling.
His wife’s eyes were closed.
She wasn’t sleeping.
It was a definitive peace.
He touched her icy skin.
„She’s… dead…” he whispered.
The girls looked at him without fear or remorse.
„We didn’t do anything wrong,” Ari murmured. „We just touched her, and with her eyes she told us she was grateful… that she was ready.”
Ivan fell to his knees. A tear ran down his cheek.
„Did she smile?”
„Yes,” Marina replied firmly. „She was happy. She told us, without words, that she was waiting for this moment.”
He stayed there, leaning beside the bed, as the girls silently left the room.
A week passed.
The whole town was in turmoil.
Some said the twins were a sign.
Others, that they carried a curse.
But Ivan knew the truth.
He adopted them. Just like that.
He made the necessary arrangements, spoke to the right people, although in reality… he had already accepted them into his soul from that first night.
Life resumed its normal course.
The girls attended school.
Ivan continued to take care of the forest.
But every morning, watching them play in the yard, he felt an unexpected warmth within him: a slow, sweet fire that accompanied him.
And on quiet autumn nights, when the fog covered the streets and the leaves fell silently, Ari would approach him to ask:
„Do you think Mom is still smiling?”
Ivan lowered his voice tenderly and always answered the same:
„If you’re here… it means she smiles every day.”