Chocolate Eyes and Warm Hands

Epilogue and Author's Note

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Epilogue

Well, that’s my story. I still have the Yankees hat, and I wear it almost every day. I guess I should inform you that I’m now living in Indiana, where I was born twenty-five years ago. I have a cozy home with two kids, another one coming, and one husband. (I think Anthony would love to meet him, if they ever had the chance. I met him in college, but let’s save that story for another time.) No, my parents never re-married anyone, so they never got back together, but I don’t have any step-parents either. I think that they still love each other, but sometimes you need more than love to keep a relationship. I should know.

Martin is in a college in California to become a teacher. Also, for those who are curious, Sandy Smith went to rehab and broke her alcohol addiction. Her and Drew still live together in Grand Rapids, which they really enjoyed staying in during the marrow transplant. Fiona became a public speaker about cancer and “ the changes in a growing girl’s body.” And yes, the fund raisers were a success. With our huge festivals, marathons, carnival, and many other forms of entertainment held by my school, we were able to raise over $100,000 for leukemia research.

Now of course, you’re wondering whether Anthony survived the transplant. This, I will not tell you directly, but I’ll give you a pretty big hint:

 My name is Hannah Suzanne Teator Smith, Medical Attorney.

Author’s Note

Quite honestly, I’m jealous of Hannah. Even though he’s fictional, (at least, I’m pretty sure he is… hmm…) I think I’m in love with Anthony too! (That’s me. I know it’s actually rather sad when you fall in love with your own characters…) Also, I really thought deeply about whether Anthony should die or not, but then a friend pointed out that in all romance books, when someone gets cancer, they usually end up dead. She had a point there, plus I’m a believer in happy endings (most of the time. Even if I hate it, I can’t help but be impressed when an author is brave enough to kill their own main characters. It makes for a good plot, not to mention it makes the story more believable. I mean, if it was some historical fiction story during a war, it’d be pretty ridiculous if no one died.) so I decided in letting him live. (Not to mention, I wanted Hannah to have kids and a family, but I couldn’t stand the thought of her being together with anyone but Anthony!) Anyway, Now that I’m actually done with the story, I wish I made it longer. (Actually, at 18,242 words, I think it’s long enough.) So, thank you for bearing with the rather long story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

                                                                                                -Olivia