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Epilogue
Five Years Later…
“Mommy! Mommy! Watch me!” Franklin shouted as he did a cannonball off of the side of the pool. It was a special one, built like an oasis, but it only went to four feet deep. They always had two staff life guards on duty whenever they were there.
A huge splash flew up from the water, dousing poor nearby Farook, whose soft curls had been dry until then. “Mom, he splashed me!”
Jamsheed sat up from his position on the lounge chair and pushed his sunglasses off of his eyes. “Then maybe you should splash him back, my lion.”
A devious grin lit up her middle son’s face as he jumped into the pool and swam after his brother. Franklin was every inch the future king he would one day be—bold and decisive—whereas Farook was sneakier, more deliberate in his actions. The two of them seemed to clash on everything and would probably be engaged in a splash war for hours as the nervous lifeguards watched on.
“They are so noisy,” Haley said, returning to her chair and handing Brenda a virgin daiquiri. After her accident, every drink Haley touched was virgin and Brenda was glad about that. “I take it back. I don’t want five-year-old triplets running around anymore.”
“Except you do,” Jamsheed said, chuckled and beckoning with his hand to where Franklin and Farook splashed at each other. “You’re their favorite sitter.”
“Yes, but sometimes I swear if I watch one more Power Rangers I’ll scream.” Haley shook her head and took a sip of her drink. “But they’re cute, especially the two of them.”
All three of them let out a contented sigh to where in the shallowest end of the pool Sheikh Walheed was teaching his young namesake how to doggie paddle. After almost six months in a coma, the old sheikh had woken up and then gamely worked through months of physical therapy. He still had a limp, but the old man was as big a survivor as any of them, and she was glad her family was whole. The bond between the two Walheeds was so strong that she suspected it had more to do with how much they’d endured and survived in the hospital and not even their names. Few things filled her heart with more joy than watching their special relationship blossom.
Haley set her drink down and slipped off her beach cover up. “Excuse me, you’re making that face, Jamsheed.”
“What face?” he asked, winking back at her.
“The one where you’re going to suck Mom’s face. If you’ll let me go, I’m about to teach Franklin and Farook how to really splash around. Cowabunga!” she shouted jogging for the edge and landing in a spectacular cannonball that shed water everywhere.
“I was not looking at you like that,” Jamsheed defended.
“Actually,” Brenda said, turning her gaze back to his haunting golden one. “I hope that you were. If you don’t look at me like that all the time, then I’m losing my touch.”
He leaned over and kissed her, his tongue tangling with hers and promising her so much more later that night once the triplets were asleep. “You’ll never do that my phoenix. I love you, my habibi, and I always will.”
“Me too, Jamsheed. Me too.”
THE END
