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She would show him what she had chosen.
She went to the window and looked out at the Parisian skyline. And that was when she saw him.
Run.
The word echoed in her soul. She flung the door to the apartment open and began to run down the stairs, all the way down to the street, and by the time she got there, he was just about to approach the door.
“Cairo,” she said.
“Ariel.”
And she found herself in his arms. Kissing him.
When he pulled away, his breathing was ragged. “Ariel,” he said. “I’ve come for you. My brother did not magically forgive me. And I am not immediately redeemed. I am not a different man than the one that you left behind. But I am... Willing. I am willing to accept what you have offered me. You came to me while I was in the dark. You came to rescue me. To lift me out. And I want it. I want your love. And I want to reach out and take your hand and give you my love in return. I was afraid... Because... Of what I felt loving you had cost before. But really, it wasn’t that. It was just knowing what it feels like to lose you. And wanting to never lose you again. And so... I cut you off myself. As if that made it better. But the problem is... I don’t know what makes things better. I know how to fight. And I know how to embrace oblivion. But you... You are peace. And you are sharp and clear. And you are quite different from anything that I have ever had. I’m not sure I know how to love. But I want to.”
“Oh, my sun,” she said. “Don’t you know that you burned so bright? Don’t you know that you’ve known how to love me since you were a boy? It’s as natural as breathing to us. We couldn’t stop if we tried.”
“You’re right,” he said, as if it was the most wondrous thing. A revelation.
Her heart hurt. With joy. With pain for him.
With hope.
“We never need to be shown. Not by anyone. It was simply part of us.”
“Fate,” he said.
“Fate we had to choose,” she said, stepping toward him and taking his hand in hers. “I want to go home now. To Nazul. Take me to the desert.”
EPILOGUE
ITTOOKAnumber of years for Cairo to feel as if he had fully forgiven himself for the mistakes of the past. It was different to face those feelings, rather than simply running from them. And once he did begin to look at them critically... It had been hard.
But Ariel had been there for him every step of the way.
And things changed radically when she gave birth to their first child.
A daughter.
And it shifted the landscape of his soul.
In much the way Ariel had done the first time he had seen her.
Undeniable love. A love that felt fated in ways he did not ever think he would understand.
But it was actually that love that changed everything for him. That made him fully understand.
A person was never worthy of the love they were given. A person simply had to accept it as a gift, and work to be the best they could.
“She looks so much like you,” Ariel said, brushing the top of their daughter’s dark downy head with her forefinger.
“And yet, she is her mother’s daughter. For she has my heart. Without question. Always.”
And then from behind his back he took out the gift that he had brought for her earlier. Not diamonds. Not gold. An orange.
He handed the orange to his wife, and she smiled. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you,ya amar.”
