Bonded

Epilogue

It's the little things that make it all worth it. Watching everyone smile and laugh around the dinner table, the smell of homecooked food filling the house, the lights on the Christmas tree bright and beautiful, and, of course, the pitter patter of little feet on the hardwood floor.

These days were different; we made sure of that. After Kaya and Ephraim left, we went to work on making the reservation better and safer for all of us. The pack went back to training, running patrols, and picking off every one-off vampire passing through; Jacob and I started to work on identifying weak spots in our own leadership; and the Council partnered up with us to better determine the future for the next generation. Just in time too. After Edward threatened to go after Bianca to trick us into killing him, all of the wolves who had imprints kind of had this moment of panic and appreciation for them.

We had a bit of a baby boom. Rachel, Kim, and Bianca all got pregnant within the year. Emily gave birth to Nathaniel Asher Uley on December 8 of that year and he was an absolute sweetheart. He took after Emily a lot more than Sam, I think. He was a natural nurturer; while Emily and I will probably never settle things between us, I can still see how his nature mirrors hers. He loves to give hugs and share his snacks with whoever's with him and pat your back when he's upset. The whole pack was waiting in the lobby the day he was born, waiting anxiously for the first of the new generation of our family to be born.

"Mama!" a little voice cried out. I could hear her little feet running toward me from the back room. That's my little girl. My little Hadley. Born May 25 at 5:25 in the morning. I know right? Her timing was...very spot on. And those little things didn't stop there. Everyday, it felt like we were learning something new about her and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Carlisle arranged for us to deliver at the hospital after my absolute refusal to give birth in the same room Bella died in. I didn't care how much he sterilized that room; every time I walk into that house, that's all I can think about. I wasn't about to bring my child into the world in that room, absolutely not. And then after Paul made the horrendous joke that she was going to come out as a wolf pup, Carlisle made sure our room was super private and secure. Despite that panic, Hadley Sarah-Violet Black came out 7 pounds, 6 ounces of pure perfection.

She's special though. Very special. After the initial shock (of everyone else except me and Jacob, of course) that she was not a boy, we found out pretty early that she was an empath and could hear our thoughts. Our normal mind walls weren't working with her; we had to figure out how to make them stronger for all of our sake. A solid year around the pack and my little daughter's second word—right after "Dada"—was an emphatic "fuck!" after she fell down.

"Mama, I wanna help!" Hadley said. She looked up at me with big, beautiful brown eyes and a wide smile as she settled herself right beside me, her leg pressed to mine. "Can I help wrap presents, mama?"

"Of course, you can, baby girl," I grinned at her. I handed her the stick-on ribbons to stick on top of the already wrapped presents. The gentle Christmas music played in the background as I continued to wrap presents for the pack. Everyone would start arriving soon and I wanted it to be a great Christmas Eve. Our pack family was growing more and more by the year; the more we grew, the more traditions developed. It was only right. When everyone is kicking vampire ass by day, we all knew how important it was to keep our family together. So, every Christmas Eve for the past few years, everyone would come to our house for food, drinks, and we'd all play games with the kids and then watch them open one present before the end of the night.

Being a mom is so different. It's a kind of chaos that I would love to welcome every single day. She keeps me on my toes, for sure, and she has Jacob wrapped around her little finger. At 5 years old, Hadley is the most confident, brave little girl I'd ever met. Jacob said that she took after me in that way; now that I'm on the maternal side of it, it's so much different. But she has this sweet side to her that's all Jacob. When Hadley loves, it's with her whole heart and nothing short of that.