A Photographer's Viewpoint

Epilogue

L U C I E L

3 years later ...

I continued clicking away at my camera as Isabella continued chasing after our dog, Ringo. He had a ball in his mouth and continued circling and jumping around her.

At some point, Isabella managed to get the ball out of Ringo's mouth and threw it at a faraway distance. Ringo immediately started running after it with immense speed.

When I saw Isabella starting to approach me, I placed my camera back down on the table and leaned back against the backrest of the chair.

"Tired?" I asked when she neared me.

Isabella only straddled my lap and lay her head on my shoulder, letting out a long dramatic sigh.

Yup. Definitely drained.

I placed a kiss on the crown of her head and draped my arms over her back.

"I think my age is starting to catch up with me." She muttered into the crook of my neck.

"Love, you're only 38 and already complaining about your age?" I ask her.

She looked up and had a 'are you serious right now' look on her face.

"I don't wanna hear that from someone who's not even 30 yet." She says as she gets up from my embrace.

"Oh c'mon Belle, you know I love you!" I called out as she stomped back inside.

"Vaffanculo!" She yelled back somewhere in the house.
(Fuck you!)

I wasn't sure what she said, but her speaking Italian just made me horny for her. My focus on Isabella was soon interrupted by Ringo that jumped on with full force, almost knocking me down from the chair.

"For a Golden Retriever, you sure have a lot of energy." I say with a chuckle and scratched behind his ear.

I continued praising Ringo for a bit more and took a few more photos of him. After a couple minutes, I picked up my camera and headed inside with Ringo following behind me. When he saw Dobbie spread out on the couch, he ran over to her and started licking all over her face. Dobbie continued laying sprawled out and enjoyed the grooming service.

I then headed to our bedroom and saw Isabella holding onto Lucia, kissing her all over her face while Lucia just let out joyous laughter.

I brought my camera up and started snapping away once more, my heart swelling at the scene. Hearing the clicking sound, Lucia's attention was on me.

"Ma!" She yelled and clapped her hands.

The 'ache' that Isabella had a few years ago was actually a sign that she was pregnant with our Lucia. It was a huge surprise for the both of us. I remember Isabella staring at the screen which showed Lucia when she was still a fetus with complete shock. When I heard the news, I wasn't sure what to feel.

Surprise?

Happiness?

Or maybe both?

For one, I knew I didn't feel upset or sad about the news. My only concern was how Isabella would handle it. When we got home after the tests were done, Isabella just headed off to bed and didn't say a word. When night came, I woke up to the sounds of her crying.

I only comforted her and held her in my embrace. She told me that she was worried, worried that she wouldn't be able to be a good parent. That she was anxious and told me why she was afraid. I told her that'd I'd be there every step of the way and that we'd work together on whatever challenges we faced in the near future.