Chapter 22
Ashley stepped into her old apartment one last time. It seemed like the honeymoon she had shared with Colin had only been last month, but nearly three months had passed. The boys were growing like weeds and were big enough to make the trip back to America with their parents. So, they had flown to Atlanta to take care of having the last of her things packed up for shipment before venturing on to explore some of the beaches on the west coast.
“So, this is where you existed before me,” Colin said, looking around.
“Yes. Pretty bad, huh?”
“I’ve seen worse. Everything serves its purpose,” he replied.
“I suppose. Anyway, let me get these last few things tossed into boxes before the moving guys come to collect them. Then, we’ll need to meet them to unlock the storage unit, so they can get it all moved to a container for shipment home.”
“What can I help you with?”
“Just keep an eye on the boys. This place has been closed up other than routine checks by the landlord, so there’s a good chance they might eat a dust bunny or get tangled up in a cobweb if unattended.”
Colin laughed and pulled some toys from their diaper bag, laying down on the living room floor for them to climb over him and play with their things. Their giggles filled the tiny space as she went about packing up the final pieces of her life here. It didn’t take long, as she had only left out enough to stay here for short periods of time that had never come about. When she was done, she returned to the living room to find the boys sound asleep on a blanket.
“I guess the playing did them in. They passed out on me,” Colin laughed, getting up to pull her close to him.
“It certainly looks that way,” she laughed.
“Wanna go fool around in your old bed while they are out?” he asked.
“And if they wake up?”
“It’ll save me a later chat about the birds and the bees if they get the information from personal observance.”
“That’s disturbing,” she laughed.
“Come on. It’ll be fun. It’s not like you have anything to worry about,” he said, running his hand across her stomach, so far flat, but already beginning to fill taut as it grew round, once again.
“Yeah, I thought you were really just messing with me when you joked about making more twins on our honeymoon.”
“Well, we don’t know there are any more twins in there,” he commented.
“True, but there is something in there.”
“Might not be. You might just be a little gassy or something,” he teased, pulling her to him and kissing her neck softly.
“I can’t believe I’m already pregnant again,” she said, her voice a half moan as he continued to tour her neck with his lips.
“Are you disappointed?” he replied, pulling away long enough to look at her.
“No, not one little bit. I can’t wait to see what we’ll have next. One baby, two babies . . . perhaps I’ll just lay a dragon egg this time.”
“God, that would be so damned cool,” he teased. “What if you had triplets? How cool would that be?”
“Don’t think I won’t punch you, Colin Thomson.”
“I think that is assault, even here on American soil. Domestic violence, I think they call it.”
“They’ll call it justified. That’s what they’ll call it,” she joked.
“Why, madam. I do declare,” he replied in his best attempt at a southern accent, which was to say that it was woefully bad.
“I wouldn’t channel my inner Scarlet O’Hara in front of anyone else, if I were you. That was bad. So bad. More like Foghorn Leghorn than a southern belle.”
“I’m hurt. I thought it was pretty good.”
The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of the movers. Colin went to let them in, letting Ashley direct them as to what they needed to do while he put the boys in their stroller, still soundly asleep. Once everything was out, Ashley laid her keys on the kitchen table and said goodbye to this place one last time. Colin went out the door and she flipped the lock, taking one last look inside at her tiny little former home. She felt like all of this had been a lifetime ago.
In some way, she supposed that was accurate. Her life here had been a lifetime ago. Not only had she moved forward, but she existed in an entirely different place now and that meant more than just that she had moved to a different country. She had become a different person, with different desires and different plans for he life. She had even begun to paint again, something she had given up even before she had left America with the exception of her work at the community center.
It was as if, for a time, the vision she used to have of creating beauty had disappeared, but now that she had so much beauty in her life, once again, it seemed to have come back to her in a way she had never really noticed before. Colin had set up a studio for her in one of the empty flats meant to be a house. It gave her plenty of space to go out alone and get lost in her work or to take the boys with her so they could play in the areas meant for them while she worked.
On warm days, she and the boys would go out and play in the grass, them chasing the puppy while she tried to capture them on canvas, despite never being able to capture their free spirits anywhere but her own heart. They were her life now, Colin, Conor, and Angus. Soon, another name, maybe two, would be added to that list, and she couldn’t be happier with her new life.
Often, she would look up toward the house and see the dragons who were no longer her favorites, forever replaced with the ones she now called family.
The End.