Epilogue
Though the circumstances behind why Veronica had come back home weren’t the greatest, there was no denying that she had missed the beautiful scenery of her hometown in the early spring.
The weather alone would be worth the trip, and she was glad to be back with her family by her side.
The hardest part of everything they had gone through was now behind them.
Her entire family and their group of friends were all sitting around the ham radio.
When the power had first gone out, Veronica had a thought in the back of her mind that she may never see anything with power again.
Aside from the ability to get her motorcycle up and running, she could only assume it would be years before they would see anything like the machines sitting in front of them.
As they all looked around at each other in anticipation, Veronica felt Darrell put his hand in hers. Out of everything that had happened along the way, meeting Bella and falling for Darrell were the two best things next to being home with her family again.
“Are we going to get this started?” Luka asked. “I know you two lovebirds are just dying to get back to building your little shack in the woods.”
She chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Hey now, we offered to take one of the empty houses.
Veronica smiled and leaned forward to switch on the radio.
A small wave of relief rushed over her as the radio kicked on and static filled the air around them.
She didn’t waste any time switching over to the station she had told Gregory to use.
There was a small prayer in her mind that could only be described in a way that wished for Gregory and his family to be on the other end.
Looking up at her newfound love, he nodded back at her and let go of her hand.
Reaching out and grabbing the microphone, Veronica started to speak into it.
Several times she called out Gregory’s name, hoping to hear something in return.
Every time she would say something into the microphone and receive nothing in return, she tensed up.
There were a million things that could have gone wrong for her friend and his family, but she wasn’t going to give up hope that they had survived.
Several more times, she spoke into the microphone and waited for some kind of response.
After the fifth, or possibly the sixth, attempt, Veronica sighed and dropped the microphone.
There were so many things that could have happened to Gregory that she didn’t want to think about.
Suddenly, she felt a loving touch on her shoulder.
She was just about to give up on trying to reach out to her friend when she spun around and saw it was Darrell touching her shoulder.
The loving look in his eyes told her that everything was going to be all right.
She smiled at him and slowly dropped her cheek until it was touching his hand.
The love the two shared was strong enough to help her through.
Though she was willing to give up at the moment, she wasn’t going to give up hope that everything was okay with Gregory.
Even if she had to leave the radio on and turned up, she had promised she would be on the other end, and she wasn’t about to break that promise then.
Just as she got ready to stand up, the radio came to life, and a voice cackled through.
Everyone around her started to cheer quietly.
“Is that you, Veronica? If this is you, this is Gregory. I’ve had this thing put back together for a little while now, and I have been hoping to hear from you.”
Veronica laughed. “We ran into a few issues up this way, but I finally got this sucker up and running. How’s everything out there in California?”
“It took a little work, but the community actually came together, and we were able to survive the winter. Man, hearing your voice makes me happy as hell.”
“I have to say I agree with you on that. I was hoping you and your wife were doing okay out there.”
Gregory laughed. “It was a little touch and go at first. When I told my wife that I let you leave on your own, she about tanned my hide. I had to convince her that I gave you a weapon and told you that you were more than welcome to stay with us before she actually calmed down a bit.”
“Well, you tell her that I love her, too. I’m so glad you guys made it through the winter.”
“That definitely makes two of us. For the record, I’d have to say you’re a better mechanic than you are an electrician. I got this radio up and running not long after you left and have just been waiting to hear from you.”
Veronica chuckled. “I’ve been busy trying to get things going up here. I’m hoping we can get some sort of better communication at some point.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard up that way, but around here, there’s been a lot of talk about them putting up some kind of phone towers before this winter. I know that is still several months away, but at least we have this radio to keep in touch with one another.”
“It’s just nice to know I can reach out to you and check in every once in a while.”
“I feel the same way, but I’m going to have to get off here for now. They have a community meeting I need to get to, and since I’m the challenging vote, I can’t miss it.”
“I’ll let you get going, but you better keep in touch.”
“I promise we’re going to talk soon,” Gregory said. “Tell your family that you’re one hell of a woman.”
Veronica blushed and gave another round of goodbyes before switching the radio over to standby.
It really felt good to know her friend was alive and well and had survived the winter.
Everyone hugged each other and was ecstatic to know there was some way of reaching out miles away.
Everyone else headed off in their own direction with chores to take care of, but Veronica followed Bella up to the porch.
She already knew why her friend was going in that direction when she heard the sounds of little kittens meowing.
One of the stray cats they had brought in had a litter of kittens, and Bella wasn’t the only one interested. Bryson was up there with her.
It was an amazing feeling to know everything was finally coming back around.
They hadn’t had any trouble from outsiders in a while, and it finally felt like they were in a safe place.
It was still going to take months before anything normal came together.
Veronica almost laughed out loud at the idea of what was normal.
After everything they had survived and been through, a normal day without power was better than any day with power.
She had her family back by her side and new friends to cherish.
Bella had come a long way in the time since they had met, and she couldn’t have been happier for the girl.
Veronica’s relationship with Darrell had blossomed into a beautiful romance.
She looked out over the property and saw her parents walking down the road, and an overwhelming amount of joy filled her heart.
Suddenly, the love of her life grabbed her hand and pulled her in close.
Feeling the arms of the man she cherished more than anything in the world wrapped around her made her feel safe.
While they were still a long way away from getting any help from the government, she knew everything was going to be just fine.
The world around her had been thrown into chaos, and they had emerged victorious.
With trading set up between several towns and having the ability to grow their own food, along with butchering their own meat, she knew there was nothing stopping them from moving past what should have been an apocalyptic event.
As she looked into the eyes of the man in front of her, a comfort like no other washed over her.
No matter what was happening to the rest of the world, everything on the homestead was going to be all right.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!