Hard To Love (a Josh Hutcherson Fan Fiction)

Epilogue

Happy Holidays Everyone! Whatever you celebrate this time of year, I hope it's fantastic :)

Song of the Epilogue: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Christina Aguilera (my favorite version)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light, from now on your troubles will be out of sight.

- Christmas Eve, three years later-

Stella's POV

I finish hanging up the last picture on the wall in my photo studio outlining every major moment of my life so far. Josh bought me this studio late last year so I could pursue a photography career and it really helps pass the time when he is away for movies. Just looking at the pictures really helps me see where I have been, and sometimes they show me a little of where I will be going.

The picture I hang is the one I took this year for our Christmas card, our first Christmas card without something going wrong in it. Driver sits in the front with Aria, Josh is beside me and Parker, our now two year old son, is sitting in my lap.

Having a second child wasn't planned that early, because being a newly wed and a new mom isn't exactly easy to take on, and we were going to wait a couple of years, but he couldn't have came at a better time because we are all doing fantastic together. I finally have a family that I needed, and Josh has the extended family that he wanted to help me build.

As I look at the first picture on the wall, the one of me sitting at the piano in the orphanage back in New York before Josh and I met, which Josh insisted that I put on the wall, then all the way to the last picture, of my happy family, you wouldn't even be able to tell that it was the same girl. And I guess that is something to be proud of.

I walk out of my private room in the studio and into the main hall where I find Jessie, who is a student the LA Arts Academy, only fourteen years old, who occasionally helps me with weddings and develops her photos here from time to time. She is also an orphan who came to me for help one day after Josh and I released my story to the public after we got married. He thought it would inspire and help others, which I guess he was right. I have been a mentor to her ever since.

"Jessie! What are you still doing here? It's 7 o'clock on Christmas Eve!" I say as I walk up to her.

"Well I could ask you the same thing!" She jokes.

"Well I had to finish hanging those pictures. I've got a couple new clients coming in when the New Year starts and the studio will be closed until January 2nd, so I figured I'd get it finished."

"Wait, the studio will be closed?" She sounds panicked.

"Don't worry, Jess. You have a key, you can come and go whenever you'd like. I don't mind" Jessie laughs and I look down at the pictures she has spread out on the floor, freshly developed. "These are amazing, Jessie! When did you get so good?"

"Well, I learned from the best," She nudges my rib cage.

I laugh, "Of course! But seriously Jessie, your foster mother is probably worried sick! You should go home, Santa is coming tonight!" I joke. Her foster mother is a good lady. She only has about five foster kids living with her and she spoils them rotten. She is not a Lucille, and if she was, I would adopt Jessie and all the other kids in an instant.

She laughs softly, "Yeah, I guess I should. I'll just clean all of this up and then get out of here." She smiles up at me, "Go, be with your family Stella. It is Christmas Eve, after all. I'll lock up."

I wrap Jessie in my arms, "Thank you. And Merry Christmas."

"You too Stella. Tell Josh, Aria, and Park that I'll stop by soon!"