Love's Consequences (Sequel to Us) [l.t.]

Epilogue

A FEW MONTHS LATER

''So which one do you think mommy will like?" Louis asked his two-year old daughter, who was now staring awe-struck at the shiny diamond rings in the jewelery store.

"That one." Bella pointed to ring with the biggest diamond on it, smiling brightly.

Louis chuckled and looked down at his daughter. "You sure have taste thats for sure." He knelt down to her level and ruffled her long black hair. "Expensive taste. I can see how that's going to be a problem in the future." Bella shrugged as if she had no idea what her father was talking about - but a coy smile played on her mishcevious face. "Oh yes, a nice ring." Louis said as he examined the flashy one his daughter had pointed to. "But, your mommy is a simple woman, she might like," he examined the casket full of engagement rings, ''that one there." He pointed to a a silver band encrusted with tiny diamonds. At the top, was a fully fitted medium sized diamond. Pretty shiny, enough for Bella to gawk over.

"Pretty." She gushed.

"Thought so." Louis smiled, telling the lady behind the counter the ring he wanted. All he had to do now was figure out some way to ask Karina to marry him; the hardest part. "Now remember, do not tell your mother."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone was now at Louis' and Karina's house. They had moved in together about a couple months ago. It was little ways down from her fathers home and little ways down from the boys flat. They met in the middle.

Heavy winter coats hung on the coat rack, wet from the snow that was falling outside. It was unusually dark out for six in the evening, but no one questioned it. Everyone was dressed quite sophisticated because Simon called for a dinner party - to formally break in the house after two months.

Karina bounded down the stairs carefully in a black, knee-length dress that had lace sleeves, with Bella following beside her.

"Don't mess up your hair." She lightly scolded the toddler, who was now running her finger through her freshly curled hair to make it straight again. Once down the stairs, they two made their way towards the foyer, where Louis was already greeting everyone.

They greeted Zayn and Perrie first. The couple got engaged about a month ago, and everyone was ecstatic. She would have never thought that they would be the first couple to get married. In all honesty, she thought it would be Liam and Angie. Those two werre practically inseperable. They did everything together and never got into any fights or even butted heads. How was that even possible? Oh yeah, they were the perfect couple. As if reading her thoughts, the couple arrived, giving big hugs to Karina, Louis, Bella, Zayn and soon to be Mrs. Malik.

Zayn, Perrie, Liam, and Angie took a seat on the couch with Louis and Bella while Karina went to go fix some hot tea. The timer on the oven suddenly went off. Just as Karina was about to see if the steak was done, her father came around the corner.

"No, no, no. You do not worry your stressed little head about that." He shooed her off to the otherside of the kitchen. "I've got this, and you've got tea to make."

She chuckled, as she started boiling the water over the stove. "I'm surprised you didn't burn it." She smirked, as he removed the meat out from the oven.

"Oh hush up."

The next to arrive were Ary and Niall. Ary had took it upon herself to join Karina in the kitchen to help get snacks ready.

"Look at you." Karina gushed. "You have certainly gotten bigger." She aknowledged the bigger baby bump coming from her stomach. Back when Ary had first told Karina about her and Niall's unprotected issue, they were scared. Now, they were happy as ever. As Karina had promised, she was helping Ary every step of the way, jujst like Ary hd helped her two years before.

The pair got the snacks and tea out to everyone. Everyone, being the others that had just arrived: Harry and his girlfriend Barbara, Christian and his single self, and Antonio and his girlfriend Tori.

After some chit chat, Simon decided it was time to serve the dinner. Eveyone gathered at the large dinner table, passing plates and piling food - smiling and cracking jokes about each other. Every five minutes someone had a new story to tell. Either it was the baby kicking, the date of a wedding, or the thought of a new trip. Karina smiled politely as each story was told, but was not really paying as much attention as she would have been. She didn't have any interesting story to tell, or any vacationing thoughts. She frowned.

Louis noticed the sudden discomfort of his girlfriend. He knew it was about all the good news that was passing about. He placed his hand in his pocket, feeling the velvet of the ring box. He had to do it now.

He turned to her. "Darling, can I talk to you for a moment?" She gave a slight nod and the pair excused themselves .

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked, as they approached the hallway. She crossed her arms over one another subconsciously - it was just something she did all the time.

"Outside." Louis smiled, nudging her towards the backdoor. He gently grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"Are you kidding?" She asked. "It's snowing."

To counter her argument, Louis went to the coat rack and pulled off hers and his own coat. She studied him for a moment before cooperating and putting the coat on.

Once outside a gust of wind chilled the pair. Louis motioned towards the treehouse he had built for Bella a month ago. He wanted to talk up there. With every step, he felt the ring weighing him down. He wanted to do this - of course he did. But he was nervous. Nervous that she'd say no, nervous that she still wasn't ready, but more nervous that it wouldn't go exactly as planned. He helped Karina climb up the tree, and the two crawled inside the cozy little treehouse.

Karina took a look around the treehouse. There was some things that were different here. First off, there were never any cute twinkly lights dangling from the ceiling. And second, it smelt highly of Louis' cologne - which was weird because he rarely ever came up here. And third, all of Bella's little toys were missing. The pictures still hung on the wood, a miniature fish tank was still in the corner and so was the telly (The treehouse wasn't only for Bella ok. Sometimes Karina liked to come in here and catch up on some episodes of Pretty Little Liars. It was much more relaxing than the house.). Simple. Just the way she liked it.

"Did you redo this place?" She asked stupidly.

''Just for tonight." He replied sheepishly. He took her hand and led her to the middle of the tree house.

"Just for tonight? Why?"

"Because...it's a special night tonight..." He replied, getting down on one knee. He pulled the ring box from is pocket and Karina's mouth slightly parted in shock. She let out a quick gasp as he opened the ring box to reveal an elegant, yet simple ring. "I love you with all my heart. We've been with each other for years and my love for you grows more each year. You are a beautiful and caring person and have always been there for me one hundred percent through the bad times. My family adores you and I cannot imagine my life without you in it. I know I put you through some hards times with the mistakes I made, but I really do love you. I hope you will say yes and make me the happiest man alive." Louis could just feel the lump in his throat getting bigger by the second. He was nervous to do his proposal. He could go out and sing in front of millions, but propose to his girlfriend? He'd get all sweaty, he'll stutter and fumble over words. Lucky for him, all he got was sweaty palms. He just hoped his simple ring, simple proposal, and simple spot worked.

Karina could feel the tears coming on, a giant smile forming on her face. She was shaking her head 'yes,' but no words coming out. She was to surprised and utterly happy to speak. Words cannot describe everything that she was feeling now.

The biggest smile crept up on Lou's lips. He quickly slipped the ring on her finger, got up on his feet and pulled her in for a sweet, passionate kiss.

Perfect. Simple, yet perfect.

{And there you have it, the official last chapter to 'Love's Consequences' NOOOO. So a lot of people commented on the last chapter that they do want me to do the third book focusing on Bella growing up! Yay! I have a lot of ideas for that one anyway. Also, thank you again for the support. So, regarding the one-shot competition....ARE YOU IN? WHO WANTS TO DO IT? ANYBODY? ANYBODY? LEAVE ME A COMMENT BELOW IF YOU WANT TO.}