Consumed

Epilogue: Milan

Ten Years Later...

I watch her as she spins across the stage, hair whirling out around her. Her dress flares out around her as she moves fluidly through the routine she's been taught. Meri watches quietly beside me, a soft smile on her face. All the other people in the auditorium disappear as we watch our daughter come to the front of the stage to begin her solo in the musical.

"You know," Meri whispers softly. "I never thought we'd be here today, watching Clary prance across the stage and sing with that pretty voice of hers."

I wrap my arm around her, and she leans into me, tears sparkling in her eyes as the dim light in the auditorium glisters on her eyes. "I always knew we would be," I murmur. "I knew since the day we took you to the hospital. After that, I knew I'd never be able to let you go."

She looks up at me in surprise. "You did?"

A couple of people turned and glared at us, shushing us. We quiet and watch our daughter, listening to her voice as she fills the auditorium with the melodious song she'd been taught. A small smile hovers on my lips as I watch; this family is what I always dreamed of having, and now, after all the suffering Meri and I went through, we've finally gotten it.

***

Meri says goodnight to our five-year-old little girl, tucking her in with a tender kiss and a smile. Clary hugs her and then settles into bed. As soon as our daughter is settled, Meri leaves, keeping the door cracked.

She meets me in the hallway with a warm smile. Her eyes shine with happiness as she wraps her arms around my neck. "I love you," she whispers.

"I love you too," I answer, kissing her and sweeping her off her feet into my arms.

She squeaks, clinging to me. Her face flushes, and she buries her face in my neck; I love how she's so easy to embarrass. Even after six years of marriage, she still gets embarrassed over little things like this.

I press a kiss to her neck as I press the door to our room open and walk in. She sighs softly, her body relaxing against mine. Smiling, I move to the junction between her shoulder and neck where her dress doesn't cover her skin. This time I get a stifled whimper.

Setting her on the bed, I move away and begin looking for a t-shirt and shorts for bed. Meri sighs and lays back on the bed, her silky, straight hair fanning out around her on the pillow.

"What?" I ask, laughing.

"I still wonder when this will end sometimes," she admits quietly. "Even though it's been ten years since everything happened, I still sometimes think that he'll come back and finish what he tried to start. I still feel like I abandoned my mother even though I know he turned it around after I left. She's doing so much better without me, and that hurts."

"I think it's time for you to make amends," I murmur, dropping my clothes onto the bed and sitting beside her.

"How?" she asks. "I don't know if I want my stepfather to meet our little girl. He's asked, but... I know I let my mom come see her now that she's sober and got her life together; she's mentioned how much Petre wishes he could see his granddaughter. But after everything he put me through... I don't know if I can do it."

"Well, I've seen how he behaves now, Meri. He dotes on your mother, and he seems like a changed man. I say we give him a chance."

"After everything he's done?"

"Meri, he's changed; I promise."

Sighing, she sits up and runs her hands over my chest. Laying her head against my shoulder, she says, "We'll give him a chance. It's time for us to move on with life and let go of the past, I guess. Maybe this is what I need to get over what happened to me. If he is changed like you say, then he deserves a place in his granddaughter's life."

I kiss the top of her head and wrap my arms around her. "It'll all be fine," I murmur. "You'll see, Meri. He's done ruining our lives; he's let go of you. Your mother has too. They've both realized that you're your own person, and they know you've got your own life to live. They've accepted it."

"How do you know?" she asks softly.

"I know because I've spoken to your mother, and I've kept an eye on Petre. Plus, I've spoken to your stepfather on multiple occasions."

"And you never told me?"

I shrug. "I knew you weren't ready to hear it."

She laughs. "Yeah, I probably wasn't. But I'm glad you're telling me now." Straightening, she kisses me gently. "You've never been anything but good to me, Milan. Even when I tried to run and made your life difficult, you still kept loving me. I don't thank you often enough for that."

I roll my eyes. "You do too. Believe me, you make me feel very loved and cherished. And I know how grateful you are to me. I also know how grateful I am that I have you and that you stopped trying to run away from me."

"I wasn't trying to run away from you!" Meri protests, giggling. "I was running to protect you."

"Mmm..." I kiss her, relishing her immediate responsiveness and loving embrace. "Look how well that turned out."

"You're still alive, and we're married, right? I don't think it turned out that badly."

"No," I agree. "It all turned out for the best in the end, just like you always said it would. Even when neither of us believed it would, you still kept saying that. Why did you bother if you didn't believe it, anyway?"

She leans back, looking at me through lowered lashes as her cheeks go pink. "Well," she says softly. "I kept saying it because I figured that if I said it enough times, I might eventually believe it."

"And did it work?" I inquired with a smile.

"I'm here, and I believe in happy endings again, so I'd say so."

"Oh, so our ending is a happy one?"

"For the first part of our story, yes. But our tale's just turning over a new page," she whispers, her fingers trailing down my chest teasingly. "This story's over, but a new one's just beginning. Still, the ending to this story... It's the best I could've imagined."

"Good," I murmur, kissing her again. "Because it's better than I could've imagined."