"Mommy, can I have more jam?" Maya's voice was muffled, her cheeks puffed like a chipmunk as he tried to speak around her food.
Katherine, standing at the stove with a spatula still in her hand, laughed softly and shook her head. "Swallow first, Maya. You'll choke like that."
Maya made a show of gulping down the bread, thumping her chest once in exaggeration before beaming at her mother. "Done! More jam, please!"
Nathan, already neater than his twin, dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a napkin and added quietly, "Me too, Mom."
Katherine moved to the counter, her every motion precise but with that faint tiredness clinging to her bones. She scooped fresh strawberry jam onto both of their plates, smoothing it over the bread slices. The twins' bright eyes followed her every move, so full of trust and expectation that it made her chest ache in ways she didn't want to think too deeply about.
As she set the plates back in front of them, Maya tilted her head. "Mommy?"
