Our Stormy Ride

°Epilogue: One Last Dance

Three years later.

She slid her index down the cold glass, feeling the frost nip at her skin as the spot immediately froze over, ice chasing the warmth she'd created on the window.

The snow continued to fall outside, as it'd been since they'd arrived at the city a week ago for their December getaway. New York was beautiful, she couldn't deny that one bit.

Three years. It'd taken them three years to finally squeeze some time away from the kids and plan out a trip for themselves.

Nadia couldn't help but to miss them, her senses not used to being shrouded in silence. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a minute of peace to herself. If she wasn't constantly running after her little boys, then she'd be in her store, baking and handling the never-ending deliveries she made on a daily.

On an impulse, she reached for her phone on the nightstand only to find it missing, and groaned out loud.

That's right, she thought, fiddling with the silver bracelet on her wrist. Her darling husband had hidden her phone away after she'd made the tenth call that day just so she could speak to her babies.

"I miss you mama," Adnan had said with a sniffling sound when she'd spoken to them last, and those words had almost made her regret being apart from them. But then she'd remembered the lovely moments she'd spent with her husband the previous day, and whatever regret she was feeling had disappeared like a puff of smoke.

It was definitely going to be hard on the boys, since it would be their first time being separated from their parents for this long, unlike the usual weekend visits to their grandparents.

Here, she was reminded of how it'd been before the kids, when it'd been just her and her husband, with less responsibilities and a lot more quiet days. Nevertheless, she wouldn't give up what she had now for anything in the world.

As if on cue, her husband walked into the bedroom from the walk-in closet of their hotel room, dressed in comfortable trousers and a light gray V-neck sweater, the sleeves rolled up to reveal dark, muscled arms.

Jamal took one look at his wife and knew she'd been thinking about the kids. It would be a pleasure to distract her from her thoughts, and a smirk played on his lips as he approached her.

Though he missed them as well, he was grateful for this opportunity to have his wife all to himself, and he'd show her just how much.

"Hey, beautiful," he said with a grin, drawing her body to his as his arms tightened around her. "Were you thinking about me?"

Nadia frowned up at him, merriment dancing in her eyes. "You wish. I was thinking about our–"

He caught her lip in his in a fiery kiss, and whatever words she'd been about to say died on her tongue. God, she'd missed this, she realised, as her arms went up to circle around his neck, her fingers brushing his nape and down the thick beard he'd started to keep a year ago.

"You were saying?" Jamal teased, pecking her on the corner of her lips as he took in the lavender scent that never seemed to part from her skin. If only she knew how much it drove him crazy, how much she made him lose his train of thoughts just by looking at her, even the days when they'd both be looking messy and dead tired, thanks to their three little rambunctious soldiers.

The past three years hadn't been easy for the both of them, having a bigger family meant putting in more sacrifice and patience in their marriage. It meant falling in and out of love with one another, riding the uncertain waves of the storm as they made it through each day. But they did it together, regardless of how things ended up.