AFIRE

Mine | Epilogue

Richard stood at the end of the aisle, his eyes lighting up as he sees the vision walking down the aisle towards him. She looks so beautiful. Like her mother on their wedding day.

He started tearing up, earning a smirk from his wife who was standing across him as they wait for their daughter to reach them. She always knows when he's on the verge of crying. She smiled at him, telling him without words that things will turn out alright.

He again focused his gaze on his youngest daughter—the last child to be born. She was born when Thirdy was almost 10 years and they were too old to be parents of a newborn but who are they to question such blessings?

Richard remembered that when she was born, Maine showed her to him and told him that she will be named, Rosie, after his mom. Never has he loved his wife more during that instant.

Twenty five years later, here he is, waiting to give away his baby. He thought about his other kids who are seated in the front row.

Thirdy is now a commercial airline pilot. He used not to see him as he was assigned to the international flights. However, during the rare times that he's home, Thirdy would regale him of stories of his travels and whisper about his trysts with the stewardesses. That earned him a slap at the head from his father but he's secretly proud that the boy is such a charmer with the ladies. The legendary Faulkerson charm is certainly not dead. Richard knew though that his son will someday meet his match and true enough, It was a certain meek, loner pre-school teacher that he met in one of his flights, that straightened him up. Instead of partying every night during his free time like what he did in his bachelor days, he now spends his time head over heels in love with his wife and two children.

Celestine is a doctor and what a good doctor she is. She's a cardiologist and she takes care of him especially since he recently suffered a mild heart attack. He knew that his stress from all the non-stop working will catch up with him someday. He recalls that moment when she cancelled her flight to London, where she was supposedly going to take her residency training and instead stayed with him, to personally care for his needs until he fully recovered. She now co-owns a number of hospitals, is happily married to another doctor and has three children of their own.

Celestine's twin, Charmaine, is a fashion designer and she's excellent at what she does. She owns numerous ateliers in London, Australia, Singapore and in the country. She's sought after by different showbiz personalities that he would still get calls from old friends asking if he can set up an appointment for them with his daughter. Charmaine is married to the son of a business tycoon and also have three children. Sometimes, he thinks that his twins try to outdo one another but end up in a tie.

As for Rosie, she was the only one that followed their showbiz footsteps. He was so adamant that she not knowing how difficult it was but he's just putty when it comes to his daughter that his "no" eventually turned to "yes". Her fiancé, is also an actor and boy does he remember how he gave him a hard time when he was courting his daughter up until he asked for her hand in marriage. Dadaan ka muna sa butas ng karayom. Baby ko yan eh.

When his daughter eventually reached him, he took her hand and placed it on his arm and walked her, together with her mother, to the altar where her fiancé awaits.

He stopped when he reached the end of the aisle, he looked at Rosie again and enveloped her in his arms.

"I love you, Rosie. You will always be my baby. Always."

"I love you too, Papa. And I will always be your little Rosie."

She reached up to him, trying to conceal her overflowing tears behind her veil and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. Rosie also gave her mother a tight embrace as she whispered, "I love you, Mama. Thank you for everything."

And when he let go, he reached for his wife's hand and squeezed it tight. As always, she made everything alright.

As the ceremony proceeded, tears were shed between Richard and Maine. A vision of their baby girl committing herself to the love of her life is indescribable. They held each others wrinkly hands and felt that this was the true fulfillment of their dreams, to be able to see their children happy and content.

Richard reached in to kiss his wife on the cheek and whispered, "Love, thank you.."

"For what?"

"For this wonderful life together."

"No love, thank you."

"For what?"

"For choosing me to spend this life with you."

"I love you, Menggay."

"I love you too, Tisoy."

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A/N: co written with sunshi_fairy  ☺️ PLEASE do not forget to visit her profile and check out her work as well as our new story entitle, "Evermore". Thank you ❤️

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