When the babies turned three months old, they had an official naming ceremony where close family mbers and friends were invited. Finally, everyone got the chance to see the babies of the formidable couple, Natalie and Aiden Handrix.
On the day of the naming ceremony, when it was over and the guests had almost left, there was a parcel that was delivered to Natalie. It was a big-sized brown envelope with a seal.
All the family mbers were there as they wondered what it was and who sent it.
Justin got it from Natalie and opened it. There were so papers. As he went through them, he looked at Natalie. "It’s from Sephina Ford."
Natalie’s heart skipped a beat, thinking what it was now. Hopefully, there was nothing bad in it on such a joyous day. "What is it?"
Justin passed those papers back to her and said, as others heard him as well, "These are the papers of the Ford family mansion. Sephina Ford has gifted it to Alex and Olive."
Natalie felt stunned and looked at her mother, who was quiet but not surprised.
"Mom?"
"Must be her last effort to redeem herself for what she did. Your decision whether you want to accept it or not," Caryn responded.
She looked at Justin. He said, "Whatever you decide is fine with ."
It was the ho where she had spent her childhood and had a lot of mories with her mother, but at the sa ti, the place she had suffered. She couldn’t possibly decide it so easily.
"Mom, I plan to visit there. Will you co with ?" Natalie asked.
"Sure."
-----
The next day, Caryn and Natalie visited the Ford mansion. Caryn was coming here after almost two decades. She had no fond mories here with others, but with her daughter—those few years she spent here.
"Mom, do you rember the days when we were together here?" Natalie asked as she looked around the grand drawing hall.
Caryn humd, "This place carries the most precious mories of my life—the ones you were in."
"Mom, what do you think we should do with this ho, then?"
"Not sure," Caryn had the sa conflicted feelings as Natalie.
Caryn walked upstairs and went straight to one room.
"Mom, why are you going there?" Natalie asked.
"I’m sure they must have thrown our things in that storage room. Maybe we can find sothing that belongs to us."
They entered that stuffy storage room, turned on the lights, and looked around.
They went through so boxes randomly and found the old albums and many things that belonged to them.
Caryn picked up the album, and Natalie saw there were pictures of hers and Caryn’s—so many of them, from the day Natalie was born till Caryn was with her.
"Jas once asked if I had the pictures of you when you were born," Caryn said, her hand caressing the pictures gently. "This will make him happy."
Both mother and daughter collected everything that belonged to them—the part of their mories—and left the Ford mansion.
"Now this mansion is gifted to Alexander and Olive. All we have to do is accept it. Once they are adults, they can decide what to do with this," Natalie replied.
"We can make sure to maintain it and might rent it out, instead of keeping it idle," Caryn suggested.
Natalie humd, "And then we can donate the rent where it’s needed."
"That’s the right thing to do."
------
When Jas returned ho, he asked while changing his office clothes, "How’s your visit going?"
"It was fine," she replied. "I have sothing for you. I’ll show you once you freshen up."
"I’m curious now," he said. "Tell what it is."
"First, freshen up," she urged.
He raised a brow. "Don’t tell you’re preparing sothing spicy for . We can indulge in so fine bed activities when I’m fresh out of the shower."
"Pervert," she frowned and pushed him towards the bathroom. "I’m too old to prepare anything spicy, but there definitely is sothing sweet for you."
"Sweet?" He stopped at the bathroom door.
"Yes. So sweet, you might get diabetes. Now make it quick."
Jas obeyed and returned after taking a shower. "Where is my sweet?" he asked, drying his hair and going closer to her, his gaze fixed on her lips. "Your mouth...?"
She stepped back and held a small album between them. "Here it is."
He looked at it curiously and held it anyway. He opened it, only to see pictures of a baby—and then there was Caryn in them as well. Shocked, he looked at her, only to hear her say, "Didn’t you want to see Natalie as a baby? That’s her."
He tossed aside the small towel he was drying his hair with and sat on the bed, eager to see all the pictures.
One by one, he went through them, observing each one carefully, utterly silent. Caryn didn’t disturb him.
Even after he finished seeing all the pictures, he had nothing to say. Seemingly, his heart was overwheld with many emotions. He exhaled to calm his nerves and said, "Now I know why Justin was so speechless and overwheld after he saw his kids." Then he looked at Caryn. "Thank you. I can at least have so comfort in seeing my daughter."
In response, Caryn simply hugged him and said, "When you held Olive for the first ti, I knew you were seeing Natalie in her."
Jas hugged her back, burying his face in her nape, and said, "You were not wrong."
----
It was a weekend, and everyone was gathered at Justin’s ho. After breakfast, Natalie was having a short nap while the babies were sleeping as well.
When she woke up, she found only Alexander and Olive were gone. She stood up quickly and hurried out. "Grandma, where’s Olive?"
Julia signaled her to look towards the glass wall that showed the outside view. "It’s been almost half an hour since he’s been strolling around carrying her in his arms."
Natalie looked at Justin, who was outside, lost in loving his daughter. His eyes were on her all the ti, once in a while sniffing her scent and even pecking her forehead.
Natalie went to him. "So, you’re here with your daughter, entirely forgetting your wife since the day you had your daughter."
It had been three months, and Natalie was sowhat agitated that she was losing her place. Did she need to compete with her own daughter now that she was done competing with outside won?
Justin looked at her. "You should thank our daughter that you were able to have proper rest for the past three months."
"As if, if she wasn’t there, you would’ve allowed to rest," she frowned. "You’ve forgotten entirely. I’ll do the sa. I’ll only love our son." Natalie was about to walk away in anger when Justin held her hand to stop her.
"What?" she glared at him.
He pulled her closer and whispered to her, "I was spending ti with Olive because I won’t be seeing her till tomorrow."
"Where are you going?"
"We are going," he replied and whispered to her, "The doctor told you’ve recovered well, and now we can have so good ti in privacy. It’s been almost a year now since we..."
"Shh!" Natalie covered his mouth. "Olive is listening."
"We’re leaving tonight," Justin inford.
"Where are we going? But what about the babies?" Natalie asked.
"Just sowhere nearby, but only you and ," he explained. "About the babies, I’m sure your parents will love to have them."
Natalie thought about it. "Dad loved to spend ti with Olive and Alexander. Let’s do that then."
The plan was decided, and even the family happily welcod the decision of the two.
At night, both of them left. They reached one of the luxury resorts on the mountainside. As Natalie stood by the balcony of their lavish resort cottage, she inhaled the fresh air deeply and said, "It’s so fresh here. I could wander around for a long while, enjoying the beauty around."
"Wandering around is not on the nu," Justin comnted and lifted her in his arms before she could even understand his intentions.
He closed the balcony door with one foot and walked toward the bed.
"Justin."
"We didn’t co here to wander outside, but to spend our ti in bed, having so fun."
"You only rember when you need this," she countered.
"I rember you all the ti, but I keep my distance so I won’t forget that you couldn’t take ," he retorted calmly. "But now, I don’t need to."
He placed her on the bed and hovered over her already. As he kissed her, she lted into it without any protest. They had been kissing always, but Justin had to hold back for her sake. After so long, finally, the wait was over.
When the clothes were removed, Natalie quickly frowned, "I’m not like before. See the fats on my stomach."
He caressed her belly as he kissed it gently. "This feels good as well. Don’t worry, you are beautiful to even if you turn into a ball."
Justin took care of all her doubts, showing how much he loved her in every way and how she was still so tempting and beautiful to him. The storm of desires he had been holding back for so long, he finally allowed to let out, drawing every ounce of energy from her, making her struggle to breathe—exhausted and drained.
Natalie didn’t know when they stopped, as she had drifted to sleep—it was too much for her after so long. When she woke up, she found herself hurting everywhere but didn’t complain. After so long, it was the best night they had.
"You didn’t lose your skills even after the long gap," Natalie comnted coyly. "In fact, they seed to improve only."
"If we do this every night, I’m sure you’ll get your fitness back soon," Justin teased her.
"I’m sure it will work the way you leave drained," she countered playfully.
As both of them lay in bed peacefully, Justin said what he had been thinking for a long ti.
"I have a plan for our wedding ceremony," he said. "What do you think?"
Natalie looked at him in surprise. "If you had said this before we had babies, I would have agreed imdiately, but now..."
"I had a plan earlier, but then you got pregnant and things changed," Justin explained. "We would have gone through with it even when you were pregnant, but you weren’t allowed to stress or exhaust yourself over anything, so I decided we’d do it after the babies were born." He then looked into her eyes. "I want to give you a proper wedding. The way we were tied together—we didn’t even know."
Seeing how much he wanted it, Natalie agreed as well. "I would love it. Let’s have a wedding ceremony. That reminds of how we don’t even have wedding pictures like other couples. Let’s do it."
Justin smiled to see her excitent. "Soon."
"Wait, not so soon. Give three months at least so I can lose so weight. I want to be in proper shape and fit into the most beautiful wedding dress. Ah, we even need to plan my dress."
"Sure, but dress already done," Justin said. "You just have to go for the final fitting."
"What? When?" She exclaid.
"Do you rember when Grace brought a designer who ntioned that his boss—the most famous designer—was busy personally crafting a dress for one bride...?"
Natalie gasped, "That bride was ?"
"Who else?"
"Damn! If I had known back then, I would have told that girl Grace that the most fortunate bride they were talking about was indeed ... Tsk! Never mind."
Justin patted her head gently. "You deserve everything that’s best."
Natalie hugged him tightly. "You too. That’s why I gave you the most adorable babies."
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