He shakes his head and laughs.
Trinny jumps down, takes hold of my right hand; Freddie wraps his fingers around my left. “Come on, let’s go find Daddy and get some birthday ice-cream...”
Even though shadows are gathering around us with long arms and spindly fingers, we’re fearless; three barefoot buccaneers holding hands, hopping and skipping all the way back to the chateau.
I’ve taken a moment to come outside to inhale the night air; there’s nothing like country air and the fragrance of lavender and bougainvillea to invigorate the senses. Today’s sights and sounds have come in waves; this once barren estate has been awash with smiling faces, some painted, others covered in cotton candy and chocolate.
And there has been music; a band has played, people have danced, others have clapped, tapped their feet and sung along, enlivening the landscape with their colourful party clothes and their voices.
But, best of all there has been laughter; the grounds have been filled with it and the halls of this once empty and loveless chateau have rung with it. Love has become a lodger; this ancient house has become a home—our home.
Today has been the best day, not only for the fact that it has been the twin’s birthday, but for me too.
On a day like today, I can’t help but reflect on how my life once was. Four years ago I lived alone with only my childhood dreams to comfort me. I dreamt of a chateau much like this one, and a prince who would love me with all his heart, a man with wisdom and strength of character enough to be considered the perfect husband and father.
Ayden Stone is a prince of a man; my knight in shining armour; courageous in spirit, kind in nature and selfless to a fault.
Who could ask for a better husband, protector and friend?
Our love was written in the stars twenty-six years ago. Since we were children, we have been on a collision course, pushed apart by forces out of our control, but always managing to find a way to come together—to come home.
Some people would call it a coincidence, or sheer good fortune.
I call it destiny.
When our worlds collided for the second time, I wasn’t ready. My happy memories had been stifled over the years by heartbreak and expectations that seemed too far-fetched to be taken seriously.
Ayden knew who I was all along and held onto that precious gem of a secret until our wedding day. He was patient; he set the wheels in motion, so when we fell in love all over again, we could begin our journey together along a road that was sometimes perilous but always filled with the promise of passionate nights and pleasure the likes of which I could only dream of.
We could not have anticipated the mountains we would have to climb, the seas we would have to cross and the demons we would have to slay. But, for all that, we would do it all again—for love, and for each other.
Since coming here, the dark days we have known have become a blur—a mishmash of half-forgotten memories. Like the stained glass images that decorate our home, our world looks bright, luminescent; it transcends the ordinary and has become extraordinary in every way—it has become our heaven on earth.
The ground floor of the chateau is ablaze with light. Through the leaded windows I can see our family and closest friends milling around—some drinking, others throwing back their heads and roaring with laugher. My handsome husband is one of them.
To my surprise, Trinny is sitting on the top step gazing up at the night sky. I say nothing but sit next to her and adopt the same position, tipping my head back, hoping to see what she sees. As we are looking skyward, a shooting star darts from right to left directly above our heads.
“Did you see that?” I ask her excitedly. “It was a shooting star.”
She nods and turns to face me. “Yes. I saw it. I like the stars.”
“Me too. They’re pretty.”
She stretches her arms wide. “I love them this much.”
“That’s a lot,” I point out, taken aback by her honesty.
“Don’t you love the stars, Mummy?” she asks, leaning into my shoulder.
I glance up at the sapphire coloured sky bejewelled in pin pricks of white light, and I’m reminded of her father’s eyes and the nights we have spent in each other’s arm. “Yes. I really do.”
She turns to me. Her sweet face so full of love I could cry. “But I love you, and Daddy and Freddie a million, trillion, zillion times more,” she says, as if affirming her allegiance.
Close to tears, I stroke her hair. “You do?”
She nods. Her intelligent eyes beaming, illuminated by the light coming from inside; celestial blue irises not unlike my own, concealing flickering shards of grey.
“Well, that is something worth celebrating.” I offer her my hand. “Let’s go and see what everyone else is up to, shall we?”
She takes a lingering look at the night sky, reaches for my hand and together we enter the chateau.
In a flash, she’s gone, but not too hard to find.
Her father is sitting in a comfortable chair with Freddie on one knee flicking through a brightly coloured storybook. Trinny hops onto the other knee. There they sit, so perfectly placed I feel I should take a photo—three quarters of the Stone family.
Ayden is wearing pale blue jeans and a grey T-shirt that compliments his eyes; in all the years we have been together he has never looked more handsome and more relaxed. Our children are clinging to his body with their arms around his neck like angels, listening to him read—they are spellbound.
And so am I.
He looks up, sensing my eyes on him. I respond with a proud, tearful smile. I want to say I love you for everything you’ve done for us and for being the man you are—but I don’t.
He knows the immeasurable depth of my love. I know the inestimable extent of his. What we have is beyond time and words and sentiment.
A love like ours only comes around once in a blue moon…
I lean back on the doorframe, listening to “I Get To Love you,” by Ruelle, and scan the room, knowing my eyes will always return to him and our children—the inheritors of our genes, our hearts and now a proud family name that has stood the test of time.
They are my everything, my universe … my happy ending.
And so it began, so ends the story of us…
When I was least expecting it, my wish found its way to a fateful star.
Someone extraordinary succumbed to the gravitational pull.
That little piece of heaven was Ayden Stone.
In that one, defining moment my life changed forever.
THE END