The Missing Gem

Epilogue

The sound of the wind dragging the tree leaves against the window caught my attention, leading my eyes to look outside and find the beautiful scenery of orange and brown that only autumn could provide. The wind was misleading though, as it was a beautiful sunny day outside today.

"Mommy, can I ride my own bike at the park?"

"You should ask daddy, he's the one who was in charge of fixing your bike."

Leo, our son of five years old, looked at me with his big blue eyes that were exactly like his dad's. His hair was a mixture of both of us, he was brunette but with some strands of sandy colored hair.

"Did I hear someone mention my name?"

"Your name isn't daddy." I said to Lucas as he walked into the kitchen holding our daughter in his arms. A view I couldn't get enough of seeing.

Violet, who was now three years old, was born on February 6th 2022. She was like my twin sister, born looking exactly like me and still going. With big brown eyes, brown hair with small curls that made my heart swell every time I looked at them. She was a quarantine baby. Conceived during one of the many lockdowns we had to endure.

They were my everything. Everything I've always wanted and everything I never knew I needed.

After becoming a mother, my heart doesn't beat without them. It's really true what they say about becoming a parent. It changes everything and you change forever. Life is never the same again.

Lucas and I don't go out on dates as much as we used to, but instead we go out together with the kids. It's not the same, sure, but it's our new life, our new normal. And we love it.

Don't be fooled though, we do have our own date nights alone, at least twice a month. The good part about moving to London is that Lucas' sister is just a few miles away from us, and we can easily drop the kids off at her place. Melanie is so happy about spending time with them and Lexi adores her cousins.

"It's not?" Leo asked, innocently and looking so shocked. The expression in his face looked like he had just found out Santa wasn't real.

Lucas and I shared a laugh at our son's question but didn't correct him either.

What a difference a year makes. Now imagine five years.

Our home in San Francisco that we ended up buying right before our wedding, when we found out we were having Leo is no longer our home. In fact, I highly doubt it ever was.

Sure, home is where your loved one is, and that is absolutely true, but I feel like for me and Lucas home always belonged to a place, a city.

And that city is London.

Which is where we are now, and where we've been for a while.

We have settled here and I like it a lot.

When the pandemic hit, Lucas was sent home, like most citizens all over the world. The truth is that his work can be done at a distance.

That led to a big talk between us and we ended up deciding that moving to London with our six month old baby was the best decision.

Melanie was in desperate need of someone to watch over Lexi while she was having classes online through Zoom calls and Teams, and she also had to work. Juggling both things was stressful but up until the pandemic hit she was managing it. Mel was an essential worker so that meant that she had to come into work every day as if the world wasn't collapsing outside.

We chose to go and we chose to settle in London for a while, a year, maybe two, but we ended up staying here for five years now, with no prospects of moving back to America.