Moonlight

Epilogue

November, 2011, Los Angeles International

When Stevie walked through the airport, the first thing she noticed was the lack of paparazzi. But then she realized that she still needed to go through customs. Not wanting to think about what might await her, and not wanting to spoil the mood, Stevie just thought of how good the tour had went, and how much she was looking forward to spend the Christmas time with her family. And have time to think about the changes in her life.

During the last year her whole life had changed. She didn’t need to hide the love and family she had with Lindsey anymore. There was no need to do that anymore. The lying and denying was over for good. It had felt so good to answer the questions during her interviews in Australia. Stevie had, for the first time in nearly twenty years, been able to freely answer the questions about her private life.

And the public? After fussing over and pushing the news as only the media in Hollywood could, things had cooled down a bit before Stevie had gone. There had still been paparazzi, following Lindsey and her, trying to snap photos of them, but they hadn’t been seen together in public. They had continued to keep their private life what it was, private.

Will, Leelee and Stella had needed to answer a few questions by their school mates, but other than that they hadn’t been affected by the media turmoil. After all it was hard to track down and snap photos of somebody you didn’t know.

The rest of their family and friends had all been relieved after hearing the announcement. They had waited for the day to happen. Especially Stevie’s mother had been happy when Stevie had called, giving her an early warning about the news to be spread. After all the years her daughter had denied her family life in public, Barbara had lost the hope that Stevie and Lindsey would ever tell the truth about their marriage.

Deep in thoughts, Stevie hadn’t realized they had already gone through customs and were now in the open. When finally realizing it, she looked around, but couldn’t find any paparazzi waiting for her.

“Stevie, look...” Lori suddenly said, pointing somewhere to their left.

Following the direction Lori pointed out to her, Stevie needed a moment to see what she already had. Standing aside from all the tumult in LAX was Lindsey. Smiling brightly, Stevie made her way through the crowd. It was the first time in seventeen years that Lindsey actually picked her up from the airport when coming back home. And the smile got even brighter when her eyes fell on who was with him. Standing next to Lindsey, she saw her kids.

Stella seemed to have seen her first, because the girl was pointing at her mother, turning around for a short moment before jumping up and down. And Lindsey was obviously having a hard time keeping her from running. Only when Stevie was close enough, he let go of his daughters’ hands, a sign both Stella and Leelee took and made a run.

Forgetting that she was still outside and forgetting about the possible threat of paparazzi, Stevie just did what any mother would do who hadn’t seen her children for nearly a month, taking the girls in a hug, as Lindsey and Will came to her. Seeing this, Stevie let go of her girls only to reach out and pull Will close to her as well.

“I can’t even tell you how much I missed you.” She whispered. “Cause I missed you so, so much.”

She let go of her children for a moment, turning to Lindsey, closing her arms around his neck and giving him a quick kiss. When she pulled back, he had a lost puppy expression on his face, teasing her.

“And I missed you as well.” She winked and then leaned up to whisper into his ear. “It would be quite inappropriate to show you how much. But I’ll let you know at home.”

“I count on it.” Lindsey whispered back, kissing her neck. “Welcome home, Angel.”

She smiled at him before turning her attention back to hugging and kissing Will, Leelee and Stella. Even if Will looked slightly embarrassed, hoping that no one he knew had seen this, he secretly liked it, also being happy that his mother was back home.

As they watched the scene from a close distance, Karen and Lori heard the click of a camera. Looking around to where the sound came from, they saw one lone photographer with an ID from some magazine taking just a few pictures. He was standing in a distance waiting for a good scene to capture, making both women realize it wasn’t a paparazzo, but really only a photographer.

“Should we tell them?” Lori asked, watching the family reunion.

“As long as he stays away from them, no.” Karen replied. “I don’t want to interrupt them.”

“It’s good to finally see them like this.” Lori smiled. “They seem so carefree right now.”

“They could have had this a long time ago.” Karen shook her head, still eyeing the photographer. “But Stevie’s so...”

“Stubborn.” Lori finished the sentence.

“Don’t tell me. I’ve worked for her stubborn head long enough.” Karen playfully complained. “But I’ll go over and make sure they’ll stay carefree for a bit longer. So can you tell them they shouldn’t wait for me?”

With that she left Lori and made her way to the photographer.

Unknowing to what was happening around them, the Buckingham family made its way out of the airport. Finally not needing to hide their love anymore, Stevie and Lindsey were holding hands while Stevie had Stella’s hand firmly in hers, wanting to keep a very close eye on her youngest daughter. It was something about big places that caused the girl to run wild every time. With Leelee and Will trailing along, they were already on the parking lot when Stevie finally realized she had somehow lost Karen and Lori.

“Did you see Lori or Karen?” She asked Lindsey, who was putting her carry on in the back of the car.

“No.” He answered and looked around.

“Weird.” She muttered, before finally seeing the familiar red hair. “Look, there’s Lori.”

“Hey guys, sorry we kept you waiting.” Lori apologized. “Karen’s coming after. I don’t know what’s keeping her, but she gave me the keys to her car and said I should tell you to not wait for her.”

“What?” Lindsey and Stevie asked.

“Don’t ask me.” Lori shrugged her shoulders. “I’m just the messenger.” Turning away, she greeted her nephew and nieces. “Hey there...”

“I’d say everything’s back to normal.” Lindsey said and pulled Stevie close, kissing her hair.

“Yeah, everything’s back to normal.”