Us Against the World

Epilogue

Five years later...

When I was sixteen, I doubted my ability to marry. Mum and Daddy had just died; Chandini was inconsolable; I had a lot going on in my life, and to my regret, I had to push finding love on the back burner. It stayed in the corner of my mind, though, creeping along the walls of my small head and whispering encouraging words about finding a boyfriend every now and then.

As time passed by, I think, for a short while, I forgot about looking for my significant other. Chandini had just started her wild streak and I was in no mood to add someone else into my life who would undoubtedly annoy me (I tend to find everyone I know irritating to some degree). Raymond and I had also broken ties, so I was alone again, eerily content but hiding a nasty disposition.

Then, Ezra came into my life.

He swept me up in a whirlwind of excitement, passion, and adventure. I did things that I'd never dreamt of doing before, and I experienced so many changes in my body and mind that I often thought that I was going insane!

With Ezra came Aceline and Felix, and bringing them into our lives made our family bond somewhat stronger. Even though we're not blood-related, we still share many memories from the first three years of our relationship, one that nobody can erase from our history.

And as time passed, that family only grew. Aceline brought her fiance, Antonio, into our group (which Ezra and Felix had to begrudgingly accept) and Chandini finally introduced me to a man that was more than decent. I always knew that she and Jakob had a thing for each other. Besides, he took excellent care of Abhay, who was now just months away from his fifth birthday. Jakob is more of a father than Spencer, who left for Vienna shortly after the imprisonment of his aunt and mother.

The day is warm and wet, which is normal for your average day in April. Ezra and I sit in his completely white living room (Ezra likes to say that there are hints of gray, but all I see is an asylum), listing the names of guests that we'll be inviting to the wedding, which will be an amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim cultures. Felix and Riya squabble over the seating chart like they're an elderly married couple (and I think that may become true soon) and Aceline holds a wiggling Abhay in her lap as Chandini adjusts his spit-covered shirt over her pregnant belly. Yep, it happened again, but this time, Jakob is being the bigger man and staying by my sister's side, which I applaud him for because a pregnant Chandini is something I can't handle on my own again.

"I don't want to invite Uncle Reddy," Riya says, stealing the pen from Felix. "He'll just get drunk and start getting into fights with the guests."

"We have to invite him," I sigh. "It'd be rude not to. Besides, I'm sure Sachi will keep an eye on him with the drinks."

"Hopefully," Riya mutters. "Sachi mentioned that she's bringing a plus one. We should add him too, right?"

"Oh, no," Chandini interrupts with an acerbic lift to her voice. "We'll make the extras stand. What the fuck do you think?"

"Language!" Aceline and I hiss. Aceline covers Abhay's ears, but he jumps from her lap and runs into my knees, beaming at me with his dimpled smile.

"What am I going to do at your wedding, Aunty Meera?" He asks, his voice sweet and innocent.

"You will be the main attraction, of course," I grin, scooping him up. "You'll be right in front and make sure that nothing goes wrong, right? You'll be strong and brave like Abhimanyu?"

At the mention of his idol, the brave Pandava warrior, Abhay's face brightens even more, if that's possible.

"Yeah! I'm going to be like Abhimanyu!" He grins, escaping my arms and showing his karate moves.