One Night in Paris

büyük bir aşk~ Epilogue

Can

I was beset by tiny marauders as soon as I opened my eyes.

"Babacim, wake up! We are hungry!" Ayhan, my little firecracker and the leader of the pack, despite being the youngest at four, climbed on the bed and the other two followed.

"Shhhh. Don't wake up mom. She's tired." I whispered. "Come on, I will make your crepes with lots of chocolate sauce."

"Yay!," Deniz, cheered and was quickly shushed by her twin sister.

"Nooo! Anne won't like that. Chocolate sauce isn't healthy. She'll be mad." Demet, older than Deniz by a few minutes and the mother hen of the group, told me. She took her role as the oldest very seriously.

"I'll make some for her too. She can't resist my crepes."

I glanced back at my wife sleeping peacefully on her side wearing one of my shirts and I felt the same catch in my chest every time I looked at her for the past ten years. The impact of opening my eyes and seeing her sleeping next to me never lessened and if anything it got stronger with the passage of time.

"Baby girl, where are your pants?" I asked Ayhan after kissing her sweet cheeks. She pointed at the window. I got up and looked out and saw a tree in the garden where a pair of pink PJ pants waved in the breeze. I shook my head at her, she smiled sweetly at me and I decided I didn't need to know how they got there.

"Climb up," they scrambled up like little monkeys. Carrying my baby on my shoulders and Deniz in my arms. Demet protested that she was seven and so she was too old to be carried. Ah, my sweet baby was growing up too fast. I took her small hand in mine and led them to the kitchen.

****
We were finishing making crepes when Sanem walked into the kitchen looking so sleepy and rumpled I wanted to carry her back to bed and devour her.

"Günaydın," She came up on her toes and kissed me passionately and I knew she had seen the desire in my eyes.

A chorus of "ewwwww" drew us apart.

"Hey, how do you think you three came to be?" I demanded.

"Yuck," Demet clapped her hands over her ears.

"Can! Chocolate sauce? This early in the morning? What are you thinking?" Sanem complained.

"Told you she'd be mad," Demet smirked.

"Here," I gave her a bite of chocolate filled crepe and she closed her eyes in bliss. She licked my fingers furtively and gave me a secret smile. I contained a groan. Over ten years and three kids later and I still couldn't keep my hands off her.

"How are you feeling this morning?" I said trying to control my wayward thoughts while I filled her plate and led her to the table.

I rubbed her belly currently very swollen with baby number four otherwise known as our Oops baby. Lots of wine and a child free night at the cabin resulted in a big surprise despite taking precautions. "You're much too virile and I'm disgustingly fertile." Sanem had said at the time. I couldn't help but feel a certain caveman pride every time I saw my wife waddle into a room hugely pregnant with my baby. I told her that once and the look she gave me made me fear for my life.

"I'm feeling very restless. I'm so tired of being tired all the time. I haven't been able to write anything in weeks." She sighed and ate the rest of the crepe in short order. The baby was overdue and she was ready for it to vacate the premises. "I tell you this one is a boy. It's just as stubborn as his daddy," she grumped.

"It's another girl," I declared sitting next to her at the kitchen table with my arm around her shoulders, feeding her bites from my plate. "I am destined to be surrounded and adored by beautiful females." I winked at her and she threw a piece of crepe at me.

"So did you come up with any names?" I asked the girls.

"Spiderman!" shouted Ayhan. She was currently in her superhero phase.

I pretended to give it serious thought while Sanem laughed.

"Maybe we should name him after you since you're so much alike already," Sanem told me between bites.

"Babacim? That's boring. Spiderman is better." Ayhan protested.

"That's not his real name, silly! And Spiderman is not a real name. Everyone would make fun of him and we would have to beat them up." Demet rolled her eyes at her sister.

And then all three started arguing about names while their mother and I looked at each other, speaking volumes in silence. Here in this messy and loud kitchen was my whole heart walking outside of my body.

"I love you, and this life we've made." I kissed her nose.

"They're making kissy faces again! Gross!" Deniz covered her eyes with hands sticky with chocolate. Another chorus of giggling and gagging noises.

This beautiful woman had filled my life with love, joy, and laughter but she had also given me something priceless: a real family.

****
A few days later, I sat in a chair beside the bed with the new baby finally sleeping peacefully on my chest, watching Sanem in an exhausted sleep and the girls sprawled on every other available inch of space. I buried my nose in the baby's sweet-smelling head and inhaled deeply, then I leaned over and kissed Sanem's head gently.

I'd traveled the world by myself and with my love but this right here in this moment was my personal idea of paradise.

-the end