Before Me and You

Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Epilogue

*10 Years Later*

The cool breeze of the summer blew through my hair as Niall and I swung on our porch swing overlooking the beautiful front yard. The grass was green and the many trees delivered shade in this afternoon heat. Our boat swayed back and forth on the lake ahead of us while we watched as our four year old son Brandon sat on the dock with Nick trying to catch fish. The lake counted as our front yard here at our vacation home, and the porch swing rested on the deck of the house.

 “It really is beautiful here, isn’t it?” Niall spoke up, his voice growing deeper with age.

I nodded silently and watched Brandon reel his fishing rod only to find the bait was stolen by a clever fish below the dock. I giggled at his reaction and Niall noticed as well.

“Oh, I wanted to show you something.” Niall got up and wandered into the house to come back with a photo album.

“What’s this?” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and sat up on the swing.

“My mum made it for us. She said she has been collecting these photos since we were kids.” He opened the book to read the first page titled, “Before Me and You.”

The first picture was of the two of us when we came back from the beach one day. Niall was in his tiny tot boxers while I was rocking the diaper I had on. We had stopped on the way home to get ice cream, although most of it was on our face. Niall had his legendary chocolate, and I had my favourite strawberry. I could remember the day perfectly!

We continued to look through all our childhood memories saved in a bunch of photos. Some from when we were playing football, some from our birthdays, my first concert that Niall came with me to, and even when we had our first pool party. 

Then we came to the title, “The X Factor.” I recognized the picture of Niall with his now famous number on his shirt when he was at the auditions. There was one of him holding the mic, and there was one with him and me after he made it onto the show. His face held the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on him. I sneaked a peek at Niall next to me and he had that same smile playing on his lips as he remembered that amazing day.

The next section was about One Direction when they were on their countless tours. We laughed through most of the photos because all the lads are total jokesters. We flipped through all those memorable ones till we reached the section called, “The Next Part of Life.” We opened the first page to a picture of Niall and I on our wedding day, probably the happiest day of my life, with my favourite person in life. There I was in my white wedding gown covered in diamond beaded studs and next to me was the handsome Niall in his tuxedo. Pictures of Harry, Liam, Louis, and Zayn in their tux’s as well all taking the role of ‘the best man.’ A picture of Darien in the beautiful lavender bridesmaids dress was on the next page. She looked so beautiful there, standing next to her current husband Harry. Eleanor, Perrie, and Amanda all in the next photo with Louis, Zayn, and Liam. 

Looking at all these pictures reminded me of the day like I was reliving it. The next section was titled, “Family.” A picture of me when I was pregnant with Brandon was first in the album; Niall was next to me holding up a hammer as he was assembling the crib. I laughed remembering that day when it took him a good four hours to finally put it together after having to call Liam to come over and help him. My handy man Niall! The next few were of me still pregnant, until we reached a picture of me as I was heading into labor. The next was after I had had Brandon, my smile was weak but you could tell that I was happy. I was holding Brandon and Niall was next to me, arm wrapped around my shoulders while I was sitting up in the hospital bed.