Epilogue
ALLIE
Two weeks later, the house almost looked normal again.
The windows had been replaced. The furniture had been repaired or swapped out. The bloodstains had been scrubbed from the floors, and the holes in the walls patched and painted.
If you didn’t know what had happened here, you’d never guess that this had been the site of an apocalypse.
But we knew. We’d always know.
Jared and I were sitting on the balcony off the training room when I heard them. Mom and Daddy walking across the back lawn toward the cemetery.
I probably should have let them know we were there, but the truth was that I liked watching them. They felt right together, and my frequent calls to Stuart assured me he had no hard feelings. I was talking to him now.
“She’s wearing her wedding ring again,” I told him. “Daddy’s. But on her right hand.”
“I’m glad they’re together,” Stuart said. “They deserve to be happy after what those two have been through. And I have a feeling that ring will move to her left hand soon.”
“Is that a step-dad thing or an oracle thing?”
He just laughed. “Guess we’ll see.”
“For that matter, you already knew she was wearing it again, didn’t you?”
He chuckled. “I take the Fifth.”
“Are you okay with it? Mom and Daddy?”
“I am,” he said firmly. “I’m truly happy for them. Also happy that you’re all coming to Rome next month. Don’t tell your mother I gave you a heads up. She hasn’t even told me yet.”
I laughed. “That’s great. Timmy’s going to be thrilled.”
“Don’t tell him at all. I trust you to act surprised. Your little brother? Not so much.”
I promised I would, gave him Jared’s love, too, then ended the call and snuggled up on the porch swing with Jared as we watched the sunset.
Later—much later—we lay tangled together in my sheets, moonlight pooling across the bed.
“I could stay like this forever,” Jared murmured against my hair.
“Forever’s a long time.”
“I’m immortal. I’ve got nothing but time.”
I wanted to tell him I was thinking about that, too. About spending time—all the time—with him.
But I wasn’t ready yet. Maybe I never would be. But that was okay. Right now, I was happy, content in the arms of the man I loved. Tomorrow there’d be new adventures, new challenges. Tonight, there was just me and Jared.
Eternity could wait for when I was ready.
Who knows? Maybe someday, I would be.
THE END