CHAPTER 25 - BENEATH EMERALD SKIES

Years passed.

The Vauhn-Terverem legacy stretched far beyond anything James or Candice could have imagined.

Aria grew—strong, brilliant, and inquisitive—her mixed heritage not a burden, but a banner. Fluent in Tiv, Gaelic, French, and English, she would one day speak at the UN Youth Assembly at fifteen, quoting both her mother and father.

Melissa eventually stepped down from her UN commission, choosing instead to focus on mentoring young women leaders in conflict zones. David's AEI initiative expanded into over a dozen countries, creating a new model of education rooted in identity, dignity, and action.

They moved between Geneva, Lagos, and Dublin—never staying long in one place, because home had become a moving star they followed together.

Their love, tested by fire and distance and ambition, had only deepened. They made time for each other. They listened. They adapted. They still kissed like the world was ending. And still fought, sometimes—but never without returning, hand-in-hand.

On their twentieth anniversary, they returned to Ireland and stood under the same sycamore tree where David had once asked her to dream bigger.

Melissa, now with silver threading her dark hair, leaned into his chest.

"What if we had never met?" she asked.

"I would have found you in another life," he said softly. "Maybe not in Dublin. Maybe on the banks of this river, or in a market in Lagos. Maybe as an old woman, and me an old man, smiling across a library aisle."

She laughed. "Still chasing books?"

"Still chasing you."

They watched as Aria ran ahead across the estate lawn, barefoot and wild, her laughter echoing.

And the sky above them, though now touched with twilight, still burned that deep, endless green.

Beneath Emerald Skies, they had built a life no storm could wash away.

And the story of David and Melissa, once an improbable spark, had become a living flame.

David remembered his father, all the things they use to talk about, he always wanted him to dream bigger than he ever could, certainly wanted David to become greater than he ever was.

"He must be very proud of me wherever he is" David thought to himself.

Then his thought shifted to his mother. she once asked David not to consider marrying any woman outside the Tiv tribe. he couldn't even explain how he didn't have to fight for Melissa. 

Could she have seen Melissa in her many spiritual dreams and visions? Could she have seen that this was the only woman who could dream, give a push, and also deliver real peace to her son?

"It's getting cold my love" Melissa wispered.

"Is my heat generator losing power?". she looked up at him, with a soft laughter curled at the corner of her lips. how does he humor her so?

"Wanna get inside? I want to let you in on a secret" David wispered ever so softly to his wife.

"Oh stop it. you know what my anxiety can do once you mention s-e-c-r-e-t"

Inside, they curled up on the soft sofa, almost as thou they intended to fuse into a single soul.

"so, whats the big secret, husband"

"Aria told me she really really wanted a brother"

"oh my God!" she said inbetween a burst of laughter.

"don't laugh like that I'm se.." he was interrupted by a kiss-hot, hungry, wanting, searching...

she lifted her lips slightly, just to mummur a few words. "you better get to work then, big guy"

They engaged like it was the first time. It always felt like the first time.

Soul fused into soul--and a million years go by.

The End.