Her Safe Haven

Chapter 51 - Finale Part II: Coda

Previously on Her Safe Haven: After her talk with Seth, Winter decided to disobey her father and stay in Lakeside. When she decided to tell Rohan this in his apartment, Rohan fainted from the fever he had been having. Winter called Gray and Gray met her at the hospital, telling her everything was going to be okay...

AUTHOR'S NOTES: You thought I would make you wait for long again, didn't you? :3

Anyway so... It's the final chapter. After almost six years. I'm so nervous about this chapter I might die. I hope it lives up to all the wait.

So without further ado... Here's Her Safe Haven's last and final chapter. Thank you for sticking with me this far.

She was staying now, she was sure of it.

After everything they have been through, there was no way she could just leave Rohan. And Jonah. And Seth. And Caleb and Gray and everyone else. They were her family, her life. She would not leave them, and she will not take no for an answer from her father. Caleb totally supported her, but she knew he would always love her no matter what she decided. In return he only asked that she starts seeing Dr Switzgerald again, and she quickly agreed, knowing that if she was to get her father to agree, she needed to at least try to get better.

Gray, on the other hand, was always uncertain; because he wanted her safe, but the moment he saw her scared out of her mind when Rohan fainted in front of her, Gray knew. He knew, that if he took this life away from her, that if he was the reason that she had to leave Rohan and Lakeside, his sister will hate him forever for it.

So at that moment he knew, and he understood.

The best way to protect her was not to control her life, but to be with her, in whatever life she chose for herself.

+++

Everyone was very busy in the last week before the Lakeside Festival, but it was worth it. The planning and preparation was going smooth and perfect, and the festival was bound to be a success. The only downside to Winter's busyness was only that she had only talked to Rohan once after he collapsed and woke up.

It was just a common cold, but coupled with exhaustion from the fact that he had barely ate and slept in the previous week, that brought him to faint. She was glad, but the doctor ordered three days of bed rest in the hospital, and then afterwards sent him for another week of rest at home. He had complained at the start, because that meant he would not be there for the last week of festival prep, but after a last no-nonsense look from Winter and Jake promising to take over for him and do his job for the Lakeside Festival seriously, he relented. Rohan stayed in his apartment with Lennox taking care of him, and everyone went to do their jobs.

Then finally, it was Friday the tenth of July, the day of the Lakeside Festival. And as she stood there in Lakeside Town Park in front of the stage they had built not even three days before, she and Jonah looked at each other before they grinned and hugged because they were right. The festival was a huge success.

Then Jonah had to go because he had to give a speech after the mayor, and so she watched in between Seth and Rose, and everyone was eating and drinking and cheering and celebrating as the opening ceremony of the festival that was going to last for an entire week started with a song from a famous local band. But in between the cheers and the happy crowd, she received a text from Rohan to meet him on top of the hill overlooking the lake, where she had taken him on that tour of Lakeside all those months ago.

So she slowly parted from the crowd, and though there were still some other people on top of that hill, she only saw him. His hair, now dark brown under the black night sky, and his back as he looked down through the railings towards the festival lights.