62. Epilogue 1
F ull Circle
The two weeks leading up to Aria's birthday passed like a breeze.
There was a growing air of anticipation around the house.
The baby's somersaults and hiccups kept her restless as night, and she often woke Crispin to rub her aching back or just to keep her company.
Just the fact that she could wake him with a demand for a backrub or butterscotch ice cream when he had to be at the office early in the morning said a lot about how far they had come.
When before, back when she lived in the flat, she had been reluctant to tell Crispin to take short showers to save electricity.
But lately she had been distracted, and she didn't know why.
Crispin noticed it in the way she stared too long at the nursery wall after he had hung a print of Peter Pan, in the pauses between sentences that hadn't been there before, as if her mind had wandered. She was not distant, just...pensive. Wrapped in thought as though memories had pulled her away.
He tried to ask once, brushing her hair back as she stitched the edge of a quilt on the couch. "You alright, love?"
She smiled softly. "I'm just...thinking."
But she didn't say what about .
Her quilting had taken off. Orders were stacked up in neat rows on her studio calendar.
She worked with her feet up, a growing bump beneath her soft yellow housecoat, warm light catching the curve of her pink cheek as she embroidered names and dates in soft pastel script.
The nursery was slowly coming to life, too, filled with soft textures and neutral tones, all hand-picked by Aria and Crispin with careful love.
Pale, moss-green. Dove-grey. A scattering of stars above the crib, as decided by Crispin.
They'd gone for another scan the week before, and the obstetrician confirmed that everything was perfect. Still, Crispin could feel her holding her breath when the sonologist pressed the wand to her belly.
He had his own secret though.
For weeks now, he'd been planning a surprise for her birthday: Lule and Rahul would arrive Friday evening.
Just a small gathering with a few friends and a cake she liked-white chocolate and raspberry-even though, in his opinion, "Cake should be chocolate.
Full stop. No other colours. No fruit, for god's sake! "
She laughed when he had said that.
On the morning of her birthday, the sun came in slow and golden through the tall windows. It was a good start for a November morning. Crispin stirred early, but before he could rise, Aria inched towards him, a smile playing at her lips .
"Stay," she whispered, fingers curling into the back of his neck.
They made love, slow and quiet, the kind of love that came from understanding. She kissed his temple, he cradled her body.
As he moved to get up, she reached for him again. "There's something I want to say."
He paused, one hand on the quilt.
She looked at him then, amber eyes clear and shining. "It's always been hard for me to trust as life didn't give me too many opportunities. But you...you never demanded it. You just earned it with every gesture, and not just with words, but by following through."
She took a small box from the drawer beside her and opened it.
And slipped the yellow sapphire ring onto her finger.
"I'm ready now," she said. "I love you. But more importantly...I trust you. "
Crispin stared for a moment, with a suspicious shine in his eyes. Then grinned a blinding smile like he was bursting with joy. He kissed her hand, then her mouth. "Happy birthday, future Mrs. Du Valares."