-2 ½ years later-
“Okay Val. Which one?” I held up a pink lace bra and a black one with gold stitching all over it. Valentina pointed to the black one, and I threw it into the small suitcase I was packing. “Good choice.” I smiled at my now two and a half year old daughter.
She was sitting on the bed, playing with one of her many dolls, while I packed some things for mine and Zayn’s weekend alone. We were celebrating our three year anniversary together in Venice, Italy. This was our first real trip since Valentina was born.
The first year was too hard to travel with her because Zayn and I wanted to protect her from the media attention she was going to get. We also thought it would be better for her to not do as much traveling because she was so premature. We wanted to be as safe as we could for her health since she did need extra attention.
Zayn was also on tour for eight out of the first twelve months of her life. I stayed back in London with Valentina and even spent some time in Cambridge and Bradford to be with the people I loved while he was gone.
Eight months is a long time to not see someone, so when he came back I was more than happy. He arrived home a few days before Valentina’s first birthday. I was thrilled he got to be home for that milestone in her life. He was also happy that he got to celebrate the day with us. So happy that he and I celebrated well after everyone had left her birthday party. Our celebrating turned into another unplanned miracle. Nine months later our son, Harrison Saab Malik, was born. Needless to say we were shocked by his conception, but we couldn’t be happier he was apart of the Malik family. He was a year old now.
In this last year, a lot has happened. My parents were their same old selves still living in Cambridge. All of us girls were out of the house though. Aleeah was in Manchester working, and Katlyn was here in London. I saw her periodically, but we were both so busy with our own lives to give each other a lot of attention. My friends had also moved on with their lives. Cecilia and Alexis still lived the single life together. They had boyfriends throughout the last few years, but none of them really worked out. The biggest shocker of all was when Sabrina and Bryden got married. She ended up being the person that was there for him after I chose Zayn, and I guess that turned into love. I wasn’t mad at her by any means for getting with my ex boyfriend though. Bryden deserved someone who was always going to give him the attention he deserved and that was Sabrina. Her and I were still best friends. We always would be.
Zayn had another tour this last year. I did get to go on that one. I quit my job at the bridal store to go on the road with him and our two kids. While on the road, I started taking online classes for Uni. Mostly just general classes, and I’d eventually be going to real classes for design. My dream to become a wedding dress designer was still alive.
All of my reminiscing was disturbed by someone pulling at my jeans. I looked down to see my big brown eyed son looking up at me.
“What do you want Harrison?” I smiled, picking him up and holding him on my hip as I finished putting my clothes and other belonging in my suitcase.
I laid Harrison down on the bed, and just as I was zipping my suitcase up, the doorbell rang. Valentina’s head shot up and looked at me.
“I bet that’s Grandma. Better go see.” I said to her. She slid off the bed and ran out of the room giggling. He two little pigtails bounced on top of her head as she went.
Before heading downstairs myself, I made sure I looked presentable. Zayn always said that I looked fine with no make up and food and baby drool all over my clothes, but I never wanted to look like a slob for him.
I picked Harrison back up after I gathered my belongings and went to join my family.
When I reached the main level, I could hear that all of the noise was coming from the kitchen.
I walked in and saw Zayn standing next to his mom and Valentina. They were eating some food that Patricia must have brought along with her.
“Hey babe.” Zayn called over to me. He gave me a smirk. That look he gave me let me know he was ready to go on our trip.
Patricia turned around to look at me. “Hi Rose.” She hastily came over to me and engulfed Harrison and I in a big hug.
“How are you Patricia?” I asked.
She gave Harrison a kiss on his cheek before she answered. “I’m good. How have you been? How’s everything with the kids?”
Kids. That was still weird to me. I never expected to have one child by the age of twenty three, but two was something I hadn’t even dreamed of.
“I’ve been busy. School and these two keep me on my toes, but it’s going well. I get to start real classes in a few weeks.” I informed her. “Val and Harrison will be off to daycare when that happens.”
Patricia nodded. “How do you think that’s going to go?”
I looked down at Harrison who was staring blankly at his grandma. “Val will be fine. She’s so talkative and not afraid of anyone, so I’m not worried about her. This one though is such a momma’s boy. I almost don’t want to make him go.”
“But you have to because you are finally doing the school thing.” Zayn came over to us with Valentina in his arms. “They’ll be fine, and you’ll be fine. Just like how we will all be okay leaving them here this weekend with my mother. That is if we ever make it out the door. Our flight leaves in two and a half hours and we aren’t even on our way to the airport. You’re ready, right?”
“Yes. I have everything packed.” I told him. I was starting to feel sad about leaving the kids. This was the first time I’d be away from them. Since both of their births, I had seen them every single day. Three days away was nothing though. Patricia had everything under control. She did raise Zayn afterall.
“Great. Now give Harrison to Mom and let’s go. We’re running late.”
I glared at Zayn. “You can’t just tell me to give him to her. He’s my boy.” I kissed his cheek.
Zayn was giving me a softer expression now. “He’s my boy too.” Zayn gave Harrison a hug and a kiss before repeating the actions with Valentina. I moved over to Zayn and kissed my daughter.
“Now Val, go show Grandma all of the cool dolls you have.” Zayn suggested to Valentina when he set her on the ground. She agreed and went into the living room to play with her dolls. “Come on Rose.”
I still had Harrison in my arms. I gave him a big hug and kiss. “Alright. I’m going to give you to Grandma for a minute.” When I placed him in her arms, he started to reach for me.
“Let’s go.” Zayn whispered in my ear.
Seeing my daughter not even care we were about to walk out the door, and my son freaking out was too much for me to handle. I never wanted to leave them. Three days not seeing their smiling faces was going to be hell for me.
Zayn took my hand and led us out of the kitchen. Harrison started bawling his eyes out when I left the room.
All I could do was keep telling myself that they were going to be okay. Patricia was always coming to visit us, so they knew her well enough. I had to stop worrying about them. The only thing I had to think about was the much needed alone time that awaited me.
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Three days with Zayn, alone, was peaceful. Even when we first got together things weren’t this easy. It was always someone or something getting in the way. For the last three days though it was just us.
We would be returning home in the morning, and I couldn’t have been happier. Patricia phoned us every night to tell us that the kids were doing fine. That made me relax even more.
Not as relaxed as Zayn was making me right now though.
“Why have you never given me a massage before now?” I asked him as I laid topless and face down on the bed. Zayn was straddling my back, working at the tight muscles in my shoulders.
“I’ve never had a reason too.” He answered. It wasn’t the response I was hoping for.
I groaned at the pressure he was applying to my shoulders. “What do you mean you never had a reason? We’ve been together three years.”
“Tonight is more special for some reason.”
“I think every night I have with you is special. Ow.” I said as he applied more pressure to one area. He didn’t hesitate to soften his touch though. “Not a bad ow. A good ow. Do what you were doing before?” I demanded.
Zayn chuckled to himself and continued what he was doing.
“What? Why’d you laugh?” I asked.
“Because you usually only tell me that when we’re having sex.” Zayn laughed harder.
I rolled my eyes at his immaturity, and stayed quiet. His remark was a little funny, but it was definitely a mood killer.
After another ten minutes of Zayn’s magic touch, I was getting tired. He was almost putting me to sleep the way he was rubbing lotion all over my back. The smell of the lavender and the feel of his smooth skin against mine was soothing.
Zayn got off of the bed and walked over to the dresser. I sat up and put on the white dress shirt he had worn to dinner earlier that evening. I made sure to only button a couple of buttons in the middle to secure that it wouldn’t open, but at the same time leave Zayn wanting a little more.
I sat on the edge of the bed, and removed the black pencil skirt I had work. I was only left in his shirt and the black panties that matched the bra Valentina had picked out for me.
Zayn’s back still faced me. His shirtless back revealed every one of his muscles. All of his black tattoos were shown also. The one that I noticed most was the one on his left shoulder. After our children were born, he got their names permanently inked onto his body. He said it was a daily reminder of what mattered most. He never got my name anywhere though. I wouldn’t let him.
“Rose?” He asked me quietly, breaking my train of thought.
“Yeah.”
“Can I ask you something?”
I frowned. “Of course you can. Ask me anything you want?”
Zayn turned around holding a little black box in one of his hands.
My eyes we staring directly at the object. “What is that?” I said, even though I had a pretty good idea of what was in it.
“Rose?” His eyes were filled with so much happiness.
I didn’t know how to respond so I gave him a simple reply. “Zayn?”
He looked at the ground in front of me before getting down on one knee. My heart started to race in my chest. All my life I had been waiting for this moment, and it was finally here. Zayn placed his free hand on my bare thigh.
“Rose, I’ve loved you since the first time I met you, and I’ve never stopped loving you in twenty three years. You’ve been the one thing that is always constant in my life, and I cannot thank you enough for putting up with everything you have over the last few years.” Zayn took a deep breath before continuing. I placed my hands on his to push him along. “These last three years have been the best three years of my life. I can’t imagine what my life would be without you or Valentina or Harrison. You have all become what’s most important to me. They are the reason I have been able to show so much love, but you are the person that has made all that possible because you are the only one that has made me have so much love in my heart.” His compliment brought tears to my eyes. “ I’ve never been able to love anyone else. To me it’s always been you.” Zayn removed his hand from my leg and place it on the black box. “I am such a fool for not doing this sooner. I should have done this three years ago when you said you’d be my girlfriend.” I smiled at him, wiping the stray tears away from my cheeks. Zayn shakily opened the box, and inside was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. It was very simple. The center diamond wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. The rest of the band was covered in smaller diamonds.
Before Zayn could say anything else, I leaned forward and kissed him softly. When I pulled away, I noticed tears starting to form in his eyes.
He removed the ring from the box and held it between his thumb and pointer finger. His other hand found my left one. “Rosemary Collins…”
“Yeah?” I wondered breathlessly.
“Will you marry me?”
I let the tears fall down my face freely. I couldn’t even respond. All I could do was nod my head and almost tackle Zayn to the floor with my hug.
He kept kissing my cheek over and over. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.” I managed to say through my sobs.
Zayn pushed my body away from his for a moment while he slipped the ring on my finger. I didn’t even look at it. The only thing I wanted to do was hold Zayn close to me. I was going to get to hold him like this for the rest of our lives.
He was my forever.
And our forever started then.
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A/N: And there you have it. Hopefully I didn't end this in a bad way.
I'm keeping this short because I'm going to post a longer author's note in a separate chapter, but I want to say thank you! You all have been AMAZING!
VOTE/COMMENT/FOLLOW
XOXO
~Nicole