Under My Skin

epilogue.

Epilogue: (One year later)

"Lazy daddy! Can you say, lazy daddy?" Ria babbled to the bouncing almost eleven-month-old baby in the high chair, eagerly awaiting her next spoonful of honeycomb porridge. Her eyes—the colour of threads of foliage—were wide, and her mouth partially flared open. Still, Ria's words halted the child's jumping, her face taking on a crestfallen countenance as she appeared to shake her head.

Ria groaned. "What happened to women supporting women, huh, Antara?" Ria could just about hear the ruckus from the shower next door, followed by Blaine's humming. The sound caused Antara to resume her celebratory bouncing as she clapped her hands clumsily and kicked her tubby legs out from the chair.

Ria was only half-annoyed that Antara's first word had indeed been 'dada' and not Ria. Especially since her name was far easier to pronounce, in her view. But it was no shock Antara ostensibly favoured Blaine, and Ria could scarcely blame the child. Blaine had instantly been fond of Antara, whilst it had taken a few weeks for Ria.

Antara was born exactly one month after Indiya's suicide. Her olive-toned face had been barely perceptible behind a thick mass of dark waves as she held her arms aloft as though waiting for the mother that would never hold her.

It was the baby's eyes that Ria had witnessed first, that laser-like piercing green quality that she'd only ever seen once before. It left no question of Antara's paternity; perhaps that should have been another reason to be frustrated with Sihem. But instead, she preferred to see it as a blessing. Antara was her and Blaine's connection to Indiya from beneath the grave.

Blaine entered the room then, fresh out of the shower, the white tee he'd tugged on clinging to his well-developed muscular build. He immediately headed for the gurgling Antara, clutching her from beneath her arms, up and out from her highchair. If anything, Blaine had grown more handsome to Ria over the year. Maybe it was his alacrity to raise her sister, or perhaps it was the fact that he was no longer held back by enduring the tribulations of life alone.

"You know, I wasn't too sure when I first saw her; she kind of resembled a gremlin, but I trusted the process, and look how cute she is now." Blaine feigned taking a bite from Antara's chubby left thigh, and the child squealed with delight, oblivious to the half-insult. "She kind of looks like you now, Ria." He bent down then, Antara's arms still graced around his neck as he planted a delicate kiss upon Ria's lips.

"Blaine, sweetheart." Ria began, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I know you're trying to soften me up, but it's not working. Care to explain the bag of clean nappies I found in the bin this morning?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ri." He rushed the words so swiftly that Ria knew he was well aware of what she was alluding to. He distracted himself by periodically throwing Antara a few inches into the air before catching her again. Ria had to lower her gaze to avoid becoming too distracted by how his biceps seemed to bulge with the motion.

"I know, Blaine. I know you've been changing Antara's nappies when they're still clean, so only I end up changing all the soiled ones." She explained matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I would be angry if I wasn't so annoyed that I hadn't come up with the idea first."

He smirked gleefully. "Pretty smart, huh?"

She flung a pillow from the couch at him. "It would've been smart if you hadn't got caught. Because now you're changing every single nappy until she's toilet trained!"

He dodged to the side in time. "I guessed I walked into that one." He propped the giggling child onto his hip as his phone blared. He glimpsed down at Ria. "Ben's twenty minutes away."