Heal Until The End

The Final Epilogue

"Annabelle," Somebody is waking me up as they gently shake my shoulder.

When my eyes flutter open, I see Declan sitting beside me with an excited smile on his face. "What?" I mutter with a yawn. My back is aching from falling asleep in the hospital waiting room chair that isn't all that comfortable.

"It's time," He tells me quietly.

I sit up more, looking around the room. Everybody around me looks more alert than they have in hours. Hours. I mean, who knew that labor could take so long? "Wait, really? For real this time?"

"Yeah, for real," He confirms with a small laugh. "She just had a really loud contraction."

I run my fingers through my hair to make sure that it's not insanely messy and I glance up at the door that's just a little bit down the hallway where my Aunt Jo and Uncle Scott are in the room and Jo is about to have her baby girl (at least we think it's a girl). "How long was I asleep?" I wonder, trying with failure to find a clock on the wall of the maternity ward waiting room.

"Just half an hour," Declan informs me. "And you were snoring pretty badly too."

With a slight blush, I punch his arm. "I do not snore."

"You were snoring so loudly that you woke up Lincoln," My fourteen year old brother, Bennett, tells me from where he's sitting across the row from me, having a conversation with our cousin, Hope.

I glare at him, too lazy to get up right now to go actually punch him or anything. Our parents are also just a few seats down, so they'd probably yell at me if I hit him. "I don't snore," I repeat, glancing around to find two year old Lincoln, who is sitting with his six year old sister Peyton on the ground in front of Jasper as they wait for their baby sister to be born.

"Whatever you say, Belle," Declan teases me with a small laugh.

I'm about to punch him again when we all hear the door to Jo's hospital room open and then Scott is walking into the waiting room wearing a surgical apron-gown thing and a surgical mask hanging from his chin. He looks tired but excited as he says, "She's pushing," And then as if to prove his point, there's a loud groaning scream that emits from the hospital room so, with a frightened look on his face, he hurries back into the room and shuts the door.

"Thank God," I mutter tiredly. "I have to make my flight at seven."

"That's five hours from now," Declan tells me. "You have time."

"That's not that much time," I say with a roll of my eyes. "And if I miss another week of classes, I won't be allowed to take the summer course."

"Considering your mother owns the school, I think that they'll be able to bend the rules for you," He says with a roll of his eyes. Since high school started, I've spent my summers going to the Vaughn School of Vocal Music and classes started last week but I wanted to be here to meet Jo's baby so my mom waived me from my first week of classes, which she can do because she owns the school. She owns all of the Vaughn schools, actually. After my great uncle was ready to retire, he'd handed all of the schools over to her although she isn't really active with her ownership, she just lets them run themselves basically. She does have her own dance school for little children to run in Seattle and the Vaughn schools are set up in California. That's why I only go for the summer program, so that I can stay in Seattle with my family for the school year.

"I still don't want to miss," I sigh with a roll of my eyes and another scream echoes from Jo's room, followed by a weaker yelp that comes from Scott, probably because he made the mistake of holding Jo's hand while she's pushing a baby out of her womb. Not a smart decision.