Secrets and Rendezvous

Chapter 14: Remembrance and Remorse (Final Chapter)

Great Grandma Betty's hands shake as she flips through old photos and letters shared between her and Judith. Her sunken green eyes hold a wisdom and dark understanding of the world that I only wish to have when I reach her age. She's suffered through so much and for so many years to reach this moment.

"Great Grandma..." I say softly, sitting in a chair next to her hospital bed, "you never told us what happened to Great Grandma Judith."

She takes a shaky breath and looks at me with a weak smile. She places her palm face up on her bed and I grip it firmly, sharing her soft smile.

"Your Great Grandma Judith was one of the strongest women I've ever met. She had this aura about her that oozed certainty and confidence. Everything she ever did was thought out methodically until she came up with the best plan. Sadly, my Judith took her own life. Suicide by cop."

I gasp in shock, my brow furrowing with confusion.

"Now Tayla, my Judith was anything but weak. She did what she did to inspire change. She became a martyr. She died in hopes that someday future generations would have the opportunities she...we didn't have at the time. The people began to riot. We marched, sang, rebelled, and mourned. She died far too young and I wish she was alive to see this day."

We both turn our attention to the TV screen in the corner of the room. The headline of today's top news story read "Same Sex Marriage Legalized In All FIfty States."

Tears fill my eyes as I look back at Betty. She seems so different from her younger years. Her skin is frail and wrinkled and her hair has grayed. On her wrist she still wears the bracelet that Judith got for her that one christmas.

"Tayla, you and Emma can have the life Judith and I never got to have. You are going to make a difference, just like Judith did. You girls love each other, and now all you have to do is be brave enough to show it. Your grandpa would have been proud of you."

Betty, around the age of forty married a man called Marcus Luca Blight. My grandma's father. Betty became a stepmother to my grandma and raised her as her own. My grandma met the man of her dreams and had my mother, who had me and now, my fiance and I are in the midst of adopting a child of our own.

My grandma's were survivors. Fighters. Rebels. And everything I wish to be. I look over to my future bride who wears an emerald necklace, my great grandma's gift to her. I lightly touch the silver that hangs on my love's neck feeling the power of history run through it.

Her blue eyes sparkle with adoration as she looks from me to my great grandma.

My great grandmother's past changed our future.

And now it's time for our present to become the future.

A/N Oh my god guys...we're finally done with Secrets and Rendezvous! I never thought this day would come *ugly sob*. This book kicked my ass honestly. Writing this was such an emotional roller coaster...I can't wait to do it again ;). 

OH! One more thing! I will be updating my other stories in the meantime soooo...PWEASE STICK AROUND!