Apricity (l.s.)

epilogue

"Dada, come over here!"  Elia calls, waving from a bit further, “I wanna show you something!”

I sigh, a slight smile on my lips, a little too lazy to get up from the blanket I'm lying on but forcing myself off the ground nevertheless.

“Hi, Li”, I say, fixing her sunhat so that it doesn’t cover half of her forehead anymore, “What is it?”

She sits down in the sand, patting the space next to her. “See what I made. I dug this and now the water can flow right into the moat, see? And the castle has got really tall towers too.”

Her long, dark brown curls fall down onto her shoulder as she grins up at me, blinking against the sun.

“My pretty girl”, I say, “And so good at building castles. Gonna be an architect one day?” I lean in to kiss her cheek, and she shrugs and smiles.

“Maybe.” She grins as she scrunches up her nose.

“Well, you got a bit of time to think about it, haven’t you?”

Her curls fall into her face as she nods. "Well, Dada, not too much. Soon I’ll be done with elementary school and then I’ll go to college and study like Daddy and you did.”

I laugh quietly. “Slowly, baby. First, you have another year to get done at elementary school, you’re only eight after all, darling.”

She giggles, nodding. “But I could build us a big house and I’d get two rooms or three and you and daddy got at least two rooms with a really big bed and even a TV. And six rooms for Anou at least.”

“Six?”, I exclaim, opening my eyes dramatically.

She giggles, nodding. “Yes, she gets a play room and a sleep room and another play room and a cry room and many more.”

I chuckle again. “Sounds like a plan, baby. Now, are you gonna come back to our blanket? You haven’t drank enough and we need to get some more sunscreen on you, I don’t want you to get a sunburn.”

She sighs slightly but nods, getting up and taking my hand in hers as we walk back to Harry and Anou.

They're both sound asleep on the blanket beneath the parasol, Harry on his back, eyes closed peacefully, his hair falling into his forehead, Anou on his tummy, her tiny hands on his chest, dark blonde hair curling a little sweaty in her neck.

I stare at them for a while, unable to believe my luck, how I ended up here, with my favourite people all together, marrying the love of my life in two days.

"Je mange croissant," Elia says quietly so as not to wake Harry or Anou, proudly smiling at her broken French she's been trying to learn over the last few days we've been here.

"Oui," I respond, because that's the only thing I know in French, and she laughs, rolling her eyes because I'm apparently being stupid again.

She takes the croissant and begins to eat happily, a book in her lap that she hasn't been able to put down for several days. She glances over at her younger sister for a moment, brushing sweaty curls from her forehead before returning to her book.

I lay on the blanket next to Harry. After a while, Anou begins to wake up on his stomach, reaching her arms out and blinking a little confusedly, her blue eyes looking even lighter than usual in the sunlight.

"Had a good nap?" I ask, taking her from Harry and allowing her to sit in my lap. She starts to babble as she waves her arms around uncontrollably.

“What are you telling me, mhm? About the sea? It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”