Epilogue
Yara
Four Years Later
I've read somewhere that the Butterfly Effect could completely change the trajectory of your life, and after the last four years I couldn't agree more.
Sometimes life throws things at us, we truly don't think we would survive, but we do. Somehow, we do, and that's why I've started splitting my life into before and after.
Before Xavier and after Xavier.
The before wasn't a life, or at least it wasn't a happy life.
I went through the motions. I existed. I inhaled and exhaled but I wasn't truly living, and if it wasn't for my mother making the decision to use me for her own selfish gains, I never would have met him and frankly, I didn't even want to think of what would become of me had she never married William Thornton.
She has managed to fuck up almost everything related to me, but she did that one thing that brought me to the love of my life.
To the man I could see in the middle row as I accepted my diploma, louder than everyone else, cheering for me proudly as if it was him accepting this diploma.
And he never made me feel as if I didn't matter.
He never made me feel like he didn't love me. Even when we fought, and we fought a lot on some days, he refused to go to bed before we fixed things. He refused to let me descend into the darkness even after that night.
Four years ago was the last time I saw my mother and his father. Four years ago was when I thought I would die, but my life had really just started that night. I wish I could tell you it was easy forgiving him, or that it was easy fully letting him in, but it wasn't.
It took time. It took more patience than some other men would have, but he stayed with me. He supported me, he followed me when I decided to move to Seattle. I didn't want him to fix me.
I just wanted him to hold my hand while I fixed myself and he did exactly that.
There are nights when the nightmares still plague my mind and when the air still feels too humid, too thick to breathe, but on those nights, this dark haired wonder of mine, who used to have darkness in his eyes, would hold me, soothe me, let me come back to reality on my own while still being there.
I wish I could also tell you that therapy magically fixed everything that was wrong with me.
I wish I could tell you that the years made it easier to breathe, but it didn't. It would never be easy, this mind of mine, but I've learned how to live with it.
How to fight for tomorrow even when dying seemed easier than living.
Even when the days seemed too dark and when everything felt pointless, I've learned how to fight through it. How to show the middle finger to this fucked up world and how to truly live. And I couldn't have done it without him.
My smile was unwavering even as I walked down the stage, looking at the row where Xavier sat, along with Violet, Noah, Caleb, Ryder and Ezra, but the biggest surprise of all were my grandparents. My father's parents.
Elena and Arthur Quinn, the two people I thought had hated my very existence, were the two people who were trying to find me after my mother took me to a different state after my father's death.
The death she was responsible for. The death that still haunts me even to this day, primarily because I still couldn't get over the fact that I've lost years with one parent who actually loved me.
I was shocked when they appeared in my life, and I didn't need to be clairvoyant to know that Xavier had something to do with them being here.
And I couldn't wait to celebrate with all of them tonight.
Walking next to the first four rows, I almost missed her, but just before I reached the row where all my people sat, a blonde woman, maybe my age, stepped in front of me, stopping me from moving forward.
"Uh, sorry, can I—"
"I'm sorry to bother you," she interrupted, "but I had to meet you. I had to thank you."
"Thank me for what?" I have never seen her, that much I knew. Her blue eyes shone happily, but there was an underlying sadness there. Sadness I understood all too well, and I could only imagine what placed it there.
She stepped closer and I could see Xavier's frowning face from over her shoulder, slowly moving through the row and toward me, but I shook my head, stopping him. She wasn't a threat, that much was obvious, and if she needed something, if I could help, then I would.
"How can I help you?"
"First of all," she smiled softly, "I wanted to congratulate you, and I can't wait to see your paintings in the galleries.
" How the heck did she know about my paintings?
"Second—" she cleared her throat, "—and I don't want to remind you of that terrible night, but I've heard what you did.
" My blood froze. "I know what you sacrificed, and I just wanted to thank you.
If it wasn't for you, if it wasn't for your boyfriend, the authorities would've never gotten enough evidence to lock him away. "
"Who?" Was she talking about William?
"Judas," she murmured, bitterness lacing his name. "So, thank you. I don't want to keep you, but I just wanted you to know how much that helped." She took a step back, toward the tall, dark haired man I haven't noticed before. "I hope you're happy, Yara. I hope you got everything you ever wanted."
"I-I—" I was at a loss for words. "Who are you?"
She put more distance between us, walking backwards, smiling the entire time. "My name is Skylar Blackwood, Yara, and you've helped not only destroy one monster, but three of them, and for that we will always be eternally grateful."
Blackwood, Blackwood... Holy shit.
"Yeah," she laughed when she saw the look on my face.
"I am daughter, so you know what he did to me.
To us." I did. Everyone knew what a monster Judas Blackwood was.
Everyone knew what he did, but I never thought I would get to meet the girl that has managed to take him down.
"And if you ever need anything—" she looked to her right where Xavier stood, his eyes narrowed at her. "Your boyfriend knows how to find us."
She didn't wait for me to say anything else, slowly walking away from me with that man in tow, leaving me standing there until Xavier came to me.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his hands landing on my shoulders. "What did she say? Did she upset you? Did she—"
"Xavier." I stopped his rambling, looking up at him and smiling. "I'm fine. I'm more than fine." Going up on my tiptoes, I pressed my lips to his, breathing in his fresh citrusy scent. "I am fucking amazing."
He wrapped me into a hug, his arms coming around me like a protective shield. "What did she say?" he mumbled against my ear.
"She thanked me."
Xavier pulled back, looking down at me. "You do know who she is, right?"
"I do now."
"And you're fine?" I could see the skepticism written all over his face, but I wasn't fragile and remembering that night wasn't going to break me. Remembering the monsters we destroyed and the hurdles we went through wasn't going to end me.
"Babe." I took his hand. "I have no reason not to be fine. We have built the life I always wanted and—" I pressed a kiss to the palm of his hand as I lifted it up, "—I have you and you have me."
Something passed through his eyes. Something I couldn't put a finger on, and without a warning, he turned me around just as I started walking toward our seats, pulled his fingers through the hair at my nape, and pressed his forehead to mine.
"You have no idea. No fucking idea." Xavier whispered, closing his eyes.
"No idea about what?"
Obsidian stared back at me as he opened his eyes, looking as if he was on the brink of tears.
"No idea how much I love you. How much you mean to me.
How much I need you. But most of all, how proud I am of what you have accomplished.
I am proud you never lost that softness you had, that peace you created for me. "
"Xavier." My voice wobbled, my lower lip trembling.
"I wanted to do this later. I had the whole speech and shit, but I can't wait. I don't want to wait." Wait for what?
My brows furrowed, confusion racing through my mind until I saw him lowering down on one knee, right in front of me. Somebody gasped—maybe me, maybe everyone around me—but he... He was in front of me on one knee.
"You are my North Star, Yara," he said, breaking through my thoughts. "You are everything, and I cannot imagine going through this life without you."
"Oh. My. God," I mumbled, barely audible, but the bright, trembling smile on his face told me he had heard me.
"Yara Quinn," he said, pulling out a small, black box from his pocket. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and if you want to spend the rest of yours with me, would you—"
"Yes!" I screamed, throwing myself at him, feeling the tears streaming down my face. My diploma fell next to us, my knees almost gave out, but... Did he even need to ask?
"I didn't ask you," he chuckled, hugging me, rubbing his hands over my back.
"Then ask, goddammit," I grumbled, pulling back, kneeling on the floor right in front of him. "Come on."
The bastard laughed again, but he did it. He asked the question I thought I would never hear. At least not when I was younger. In the before.
Before all this love.
Before Xavier.
"Yara Quinn—" he lowered his voice, holding the ring right in front of me, "—will you marry me, little lamb?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" For weeks he's been secretive, nervous, and for a moment there I thought he was having second thoughts about buying an apartment together, but no. He was nervous because of this.
He was nervous because he wanted to ask me to marry him.
Taking my hand, he placed the ring on my finger, making me sob harder, until I realized that everyone around us was clapping.
And as I looked around, still on the floor, still in his embrace, I could see everyone in the hall clapping, standing up, and our friends cheering as if they were getting married.
I looked down at the ring and then at him, and without care in the world I pulled him close, kissing him like our lives depended on it.
"I love you, Xavier. Sometimes it feels like my life only began after I met you."
Tilting his head as he pulled back from me, he caressed my cheek, looking at me with the unwavering love he had shown every day after that ordeal. "I wasn't really alive until I met you. I love you, Yara. I will always love you."
I knew he would.
Once upon a time, I thought his words and his promises meant nothing, but he had shown me what kind of man he is. He had shown me that fairytales exist even for people like me.
Once upon a time, I loved him in silence, and he hated me out loud. But not anymore.
For so long I was just a girl that wanted to be lost. For far too long he was the man that just wanted to be found, and somehow, fate brought us together.
Somehow, destiny brought us love, and all the weeping, the tears, and the lacrimosa we survived only made us stronger.
THE END