Yours Truly, Austin Post - Post Malone

End

In the years that follow, the pictures on the walls of their home change. Gracie and Carter are never removed but many more photos are added around them. Photos of family holidays or worldly travels, photos of family weddings, and landmark birthdays. Four very special fiery-haired children get added to the walls alongside Grayson's portraits too. Their youngest, Noah, surprises Ava with how much like Carter he is - studious and quiet, he likes to hide on a bench in the orchard eating oranges and reading piles of books. His heart is soft and his love for learning makes her think he will make a wonderful teacher one day. The twins Riley and Dylan are loud and boisterous, tall thin boys who disappear into the hills around their home to go camping and hunting, they sport mullets and only wear camo clothing, trucking mud into the house and cuddling their mother when she moans at them. Their second eldest is Mason, he is his father's child and looks like a carbon copy of Austin. Ava and Austin often find themselves in meetings with his teachers and once even about a flying peanut butter sandwich. He is also the only one who begs his father to cook and then wolfs down the unidentifiable food with a grin on his face. He eats and breathes football, and by the time he hits high school, he has a line of football scouts banging down their front door.

And then there's Grayson who has grown to look more like Gracie with each passing day. He is kind, sweet, and loving. He has also inherited his father's voice and the need for stardom has seen him leave home at only eighteen to jet around the world with the boyband he managed to get into - he is the cute, dreamy one. With him being out of the US so much Ava listens to the morning joke on the radio for him, phoning him later to share it with him, but as with everything in this world things change so with a heavy heart one day Ava had to let him know the radio presenter was retiring and there will be no more morning joke.

"It's ok, Summa, we will think of something," he tries to soothe her, but she can hear the sadness in his voice too. It's their thing.

Austin tries to comfort her too and as always she is grateful that she has him so she dries her tears and prepares herself for yet another change. She is strong until the next morning when Austin finds her a crying mess in the kitchen.

"Aww, Peach...I am so sorry," he says taking her in his arms, "I know it's hard," he soothes. "No, look," she sniffles showing him the text from Grayson.

What type of exercise do lazy people do?
Diddly-squats!

He sends her a joke every morning now without fail.

When Austin is inducted into the Hall of Fame it's the first public appearance of his that Ava attends by his side because he wants to share this moment with no one else but her. His fans lose their minds a little and turn into private detectives in an attempt to find out who Austin's new girlfriend is and then they lose their minds a lot when they find out that Ava is anything but new, at this point, she has been by Austin's side for over two decades as his wife.

Their home is always full of family and never quiet but Ava likes it that way and so does Austin. To Gracie's parents, all Ava and Austin's children are their grandchildren - they treat them no different to Grayson although Gracie's mom has a major soft spot for Noah and the other kids including Hope and Austin's brother's kids claim he is her favorite, she never entertains their playful allegations but she never denies it either. Hope and Ava are still close and Hope is never far off giving Austin a jab, her last being convinced the music industry is corrupt as that would be the only logical explanation as to why they would ever induct the likes of him into the hall of fame. Austin's brother and Dre are still his boys and sometimes go off on boys' weekends because they are cool like that - they end up phoning their wives countless times to complain about missing them and their wives coo and agree that life is very boring without them while Hope turns the music down and Ava hands them glasses of wine with Austin chewing her ear off too.

Ava's mother still thinks Austin is a gangster and brings all her friend's wayward sons to him in the hopes he can induct them into his gang and straighten them out. Austin gave up trying to convince her he is not a gangster long ago so now he just inducts the wayward boys into his gang - which just comprises of Dre giving them a dark speech about loyalty and spilled blood then Austin sends them to the orchard to pick fruit for the local schools. When Ava's mother comes to collect them and they tell her they just picked fruit she winks at Austin and points to the ceiling speaker.

But there is one moment in every day that is theirs and theirs alone - they plan their lives around it. At sunset, just before the sun starts to dip they step out onto their patio and shut the world out. If they are not at home they will find another patio - there is only one rule, the time is only for them and there are no exceptions.

Today is no different so after they waive their final child off to college to study to be a teacher Austin takes Ava's hand and leads her down to their bedroom and then out to the patio where he pulls her down onto the couch next to him, wrapping them in warm blankets as the chilly night air sets in.

"It's just us now in this big old house."

"Wanna move to a smaller place?"

"I was being sarcastic. We are never alone with Gracie and Carter living in these walls. Besides, one day our boys will fall in love and those rooms will be filled with grandchildren, we will need the space."

"Fucking hell, Peach, calm down. Grandbabies? I have heartburn," Austin says clutching his chest as Ava laughs then curls into his side with her legs hanging over his lap as they watch the sunset.

"You know, Peach...I used to think life was very unfair. I thought I was being punished for loving someone I was never worthy of but I have come to learn over the years that I was wrong. I will never understand why you and I experienced such heartbreak with Gracie and Carter - them getting sick will never make sense. But, I can't help being thankful too...some people never find real love, and some people only find real love once in their lifetime but, you and I...found real love twice. As with Gracie, I am not worthy of your love...but you give it to me so while some things will never make sense, having the privilege of holding two of the most beautiful hearts in the palms of my hands is something I am truly grateful of."

Ava shifts her head and looks up at him, he is graying slightly but still very handsome. "We've grown old together," she whispers. Austin looks down at her and smiles then connects their lips making her knees go weak like he always does.

END