The Grace of a Thousand Stars (PREQUEL)

EPILOGUE

--Ines POV--

"Papa, look! It's a starfish!"

"It's a crab, but sure, let's call it a starfish."

I stood at the top of the stone stairs leading down onto the beach, looking at my husband playing with our children on the beach as they ran into the water then back on land, happy smiles stretched across all their faces.

And as if noticing my eyes, Alaric's eyes crept up to find mine, glistening with the sea breeze as he winked at me seductively.

"Good morning, babe!" He shouted for my ears to hear.

"Morning, babe!" Our youngest child copied him, causing a thrum of laughter to jolt through my throat as I laughed at them.

Five years of wedded bliss, and we were blessed with three kinds, triplets. Bella was the oldest, and then it was her sister, Callista, and our youngest, Adrian. All three kids had their own unique personalities, but yet somehow, I loved them all the same.

Picking our son up, he hoisted him up into the air before sitting him down around his shoulders, holding his legs as Adrian gripped onto his hair, Rick wincing in pain but not minding as he continued to urge the girls away from the water and towards me.

I squatted down, a smile on my face as they climbed up the stairs as fast as they could until they both came running into my arms, their cute 3-year-old laughs sounding like music to my ears.

"Did you have fun?" I asked.

"Yeah! We saw a starfish! And the water had so many fluffy white bubbles, but it kept disappearing when I tried to touch it. And then-And then-" I paused her, breathing in and out, and she copied my breaths, slowing down as she grinned mischievously. Having learnt to speak, they can't seem to stop, but that only seemed to be a problem for Bella.

All three triplets looked like each other, and all three triplets inherited both mine and their father's genes. Wavy black hair, and blue eyes, but yet somehow, the girls looked more like me, while Adrian looked like the spitting image of his father when he was young, but it was just the appearance, because that boy was quite the shy one, contrary to his sisters.

"And then, how about you tell me the rest as we have breakfast?" I suggested as they nodded their heads wildly just as Rick came up the stairs, putting Adrian down as the boy came running into my arms.

"Did you have fun, my love?" I asked, stroking my fingers through his hair as I stood up, picking him up with me while he wrapped his arms around my neck, nodding his head.

"I didn't want to disturb you while you slept, but that wouldn't be possible with these three monkeys in the house, so I thought we'd play in the beach a little as we wait." Rick informed, stepping forward as he held my cheek, leaning down to peck my lips.

"Thank you for your kind consideration. But who have we got to blame about my tiredness?" I smiled through narrowed eyes, and he proudly shrugged, very well knowing that the perpetrator was none other than him.

"I wonder. Whomsoever could it have been that kept you up all night, bringing imaginations that you didn't even know you could have to life-"

"-Not in front of the children, you animal." I cut him off with a smack to the shoulder as he laughed, smirking at me a moment later with a seductive wink, one I replied to by sticking my tongue out and spinning on my heels to enter the house.

"Why is papa an animal, mama?" Callista asked, and I stopped in my tracks, turning to look at her and then to her father who's kneecaps she barely reached, a funny yet adorable sight, really. But the man in question blinked, baffled by her question.