Love doesn't have to be hard

Chapter 51: Epilogue

Ten Years later:

They are all standing in a room looking at this new, beautiful little baby. Their oldest son, Xavier, is married and just welcomed his third child. He has two boys and now a precious little girl. 

He attended Columbia when he graduated; he dated Katrina until he graduated high school. He went to New York, and she went to Missouri. They tried to do the whole long-distance thing, but two weeks into his freshman year, he met a girl named Sadie. 

He tells us it was love at first sight. He ended his relationship with Katrina, and they began dating. They got married the summer after they graduated. The following year, they welcomed their first child, a son named Zed, after his father, then two years later, they welcomed another son named Patrick, and finally, they welcomed our beautiful granddaughter, Theresa. She is so beautiful.

Liam graduated and married his high school sweetheart, Rebecca or Becky; They just welcomed their first child, a son named Alexander. 

Izzy got married two years ago to a guy she met in college. Zed was heartbroken when he walked her down the aisle. She was his first daughter, and he has always been closer to her. 

Samuel and Samantha are currently in college; they just started at NYU. They are both doing really well and happy. 

I retired from Vance Publishing last year, and Zed retired three months ago. Now, we are just enjoying our empty nest and traveling the world. Even tho Zed and I had agreed I would stop working after we paid the house off, he knew how much I loved my job and agreed for me to continue working.

Thankfully, we saved because we have plenty to live on for the rest of our lives and plenty to leave the kids when we pass away. 

Mom and Dad moved to a small town between us and NYC called Hancock. So, they are really close to the twins. 

Everyone is doing okay. I was notified by the city that Carol had passed away. She has no other family some people from the church put her service together. I went and cleaned out the house and sold it.

Noah was in town. He married a nice girl, and they have two children. He was happy to hear that we have five. and at that time, we only had two grandchildren. It's been three years since she died, and I haven't cried not even once. 

Of course, I am worried Mom, Dad, Christian, Emily, and Robert are all getting up in age, and I know we are going to lose one of them before long. 

Zed was amazing; we flew to Washington, he rented a truck, we loaded stuff up and took it to the dump, stuff to the donation place, and then cleaned it out. I came back with one box of pictures of me growing up. 

I spend a lot of time in the library. Reading and relaxing. Zed spends time in there curled up to me, reading a book. 

Life is good, and we are still happily in love. We often visit our grandkids. Hardin is doing well. He is still married to Natalie. They were able to work through their issues after going to a marriage counselor.

He did tell her about Sasha and showed her the papers from the doctor that he was drugged. None of us have heard anything about Sasha. 

Xavier has been happy without her in his life and often thanks us for taking him in. He's built a good life for himself and his family.  

He has been in remission for twelve years now. He still does a yearly check-up with an oncologist, and twice a year, he gets blood work tested.

Zed saved his life, and I am so thankful for that because he is our son, and we are very close to him. Liam always complained, saying Xavier was our favorite kid. 

I simply tell him we don't have a favorite; we love all our kids the same. They all just laugh at us. I know Zed is closer to Izzy. Everyone knows that, and she loves to aggravate the kids with that. 

Zed won the bet all those years ago in college, and now he is living his happy life all because of the bet. Even tho he will tell you he liked me before the bet was started. He still says he fell in love with me the first time he saw me. I can't really say that because I was with Noah and then fell for Hardin. 

I am so thankful for the life I was given. I am thankful for Zed and the amazing life he has provided for me and our kids. 

Xavier, Liam, and Izzy live close to us. So, we get to enjoy our time with our grandkids. Zed walks in and sits down beside me. 

"Hey, sexy."

"I am no longer sexy. I have saggy skin and age spots."

"Hey, hush your mouth woman. You are very sexy to me. You can still make my knees weak when you walk into a room."

"You can still make me freeze and drool when you step out of the shower. I swear you move in slow motion like a sex god. My sex god."

"I love you, baby girl."

"I love you, babe. Always and forever." 

"Twenty-six years down and a minimum of twenty-four to go." She laughed. They relaxed on the couch by the fireplace, just enjoying their time together.

"He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same..."  Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights.