A Spring Times Kiss: An Imperial Love Prequel

Epilogue

Years have passed and the war was finally over. The Year is 1922 and Isla was still living in the small spring cottage in New York, she never went away like she said she would with Jamie. She lived alone, and never found anyone else other than Jamie. Most nights she cried about him over and over again. Some nights Isla noticed that the flowers were dying quicker than ever, which was something that had her devastated all the time. But she wasn't the same after hearing the news of Jamie dying, Isla Penn was never the same after hearing that heartbreaking news. She often replayed that night over and over again and remembered her heart sinking. She remembered dropping to the floor and sobbing seconds after she heard that news, and she felt as if her future with Jamie was ripped away from her. Everything she and Jamie had planned was all gone, they weren't going to run away together as they had planned, and they weren't going to find a cottage of their own in the mountains. So that was when Isla decided that she was going to stay. She was going to stay in New York and try and figure out who she was on her own, without any man being there with her.

The past three years were about Isla finding her happiness after the war and after her losing her one true love. Which was something that she thought she did. She thought she finding herself more. And that was something that Isla thought she would never do on her own, with years and years of being trapped, years of being trapped in that factory, and then escaping work once she finally turned twenty-one.  

After everything that had happened to her, she thought she would never be happy again, and she finally was. She finally was happy and that was what she truly deserved because she was strong. She was stronger than she thought she was. 

There were still plants and flowers stuck to the cottage where she lived, but they were dying down shortly but they died shortly with the lack of rain and not being watered enough. Sometimes Isla never bothered to water them, because she always took the blooming flowers as a sign that Jamie was alive, but he was gone, he had been gone for years. He was gone, he was killed in France and he wasn't coming back.

Sometimes it was hard for her to process that Jamie was dead, even if it was three years later. She did also get the opportunity to get to know Wesley, Simon, and Benedict, who had heard nothing but good things about her from Jamie. Which made her really happy, knowing that she made a good impact on him. Simon was talking to her nonstop and they got along so quickly, which made her happy and made Wesley and Benedict happy as well. She didn't think his friends were going to like her, but she was wrong. 

There was one afternoon when Isla was walking in the city on her own, looking around wondering what the day was going to bring for her. There were loads and loads of possibilities and she was going to live her life to the fullest. But then as she was walking, she found herself bumping into someone, who she immediately could tell was a woman by her long blonde hair, Isla saw her turn around and she knew immediately who it was. It was Mabel. She was surprised to see Mabel, the last time Isla saw her was when she tried to ruin her relationship with Jamie.

"Isla..." Mabel said surprised,

"Mabel." Isla responded back, "Good to see you, it's been a while." 

"Yes. It has," Mabel responded awkwardly looking down at the ground. Isla watched as Mabel was struggling to make eye contact with her. Isla didn't want to admit it, but she found it a bit funny that Mabel couldn't face her. Isla wanted to say something to Mabel, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't know if Mabel knew that Jamie was dead, but she probably did. But then there was the possibility of how poorly she was going to react. But Mabel was always stubborn and was good at holding in her emotions, so she didn't know what was going to happen.

"How have you been?" Isla asked,

"I've been alright. Just trying to live life since the war is over." Mabel responded finally looking into Isla's eyes, "What about you?"

"I've been alright, better than I thought I would be." Isla answered. Mabel immediately knew what she meant. 

"I'm sorry about Jamie," Mabel said apologizing,

"You know he's dead?" Isla asked. Mabel nodded and revealed that Benedict was the one that told her. Mabel also revealed that she was surprised that Jamie didn't make it out of the war alive, knowing he was one of the strongest soldiers. But Mabel knew that he died a hero.

"And I am also sorry about what I did to you and Jamie," Mabel added,

"Don't worry about that," Isla sighed, "I forgave you a long time ago."

"Really?"

Isla nodded and smiled at her. Mabel then looked over at Isla and smiled at her back, and those smiles turned into chuckles, and Isla chuckled back. Mabel was happy to be reunited with Isla, as much as she didn't want to admit it.  She also secretly adored seeing this new side of Isla, the Isla that was just trying to make it on her own. Mabel had seen that she already had gotten this far and she couldn't wait to see how further she would go.

"We should get lunch sometime..." Mabel offered,

"Are you sure?" Isla asked almost surprised to hear that from Mabel's mouth. 

"Why not?" Mabel asked, "I would love to catch up."

Isla smiled as she watched Mabel walking away, she didn't know that she was going to run into Mabel. It had been so long and she was pleased to see how much Mabel had grown since she saw her last and was hoping to see more of Mabel.  

"Don't call Cal on me!" Isla shouted as a joke as she saw Mabel walking away, Mabel turned around and she chuckled.

Isla smiled as she watched Mabel walk away and then walked in the other direction, going back to her cottage. As she was walking, she started to wonder what Jamie would think if he saw her now, if he saw her trying to finally find herself. Being on her own, and being civil with Mabel. She just wished he would see her now.

As she was walking, she started to think about what could have been with her and Jamie, she wondered if they would have run away together and found a cottage in the middle of nowhere for them to live for the rest of their lives. She wondered if they would have lasted, she wondered how many children they would have had together. She would have loved to see Jamie as a father, there was no doubt that he would have been a good one. She really wished that she could have seen it.

As she finally got to her cottage, she noticed that the sun was starting to set. Isla was finally starting to get the closure that she needed. With everything that had happened, she wanted to remind herself that Jamie would have loved to see her move on, which is what she was going to do.

She was going to miss him entirely and he was always going to have a place in her heart.

As the man that saved her from being in the worst position, and then put his heart and soul in to protect her. 

But then she remembered that he died a hero. Which he never thought he would become. Becoming a hero, and dying for the country. 

She'll always love him.

And she'll always remember him.