Lessons in Love

Epilogue

please read the author's note at the end. 

Epilogue 

Fifteen Years Later 

The measurement of a year is never exact. You're never awake for the same time every year, never getting to experience what you did before. I've learned over my years that as long as you're happy, time doesn't really seem to matter. It all kind of speeds up and slows down as it wishes, but I know that time will always have its misunderstood ways of communicating to us. 

And maybe you have too much time, or not enough, but it was meant to be like that. No matter if it's a decade, a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour or a minute, time will always be wasted and cherished. Sometimes you just have to figure out what to waste and what to cherish. I've wasted a lot of time in my life, I'll admit to that, but I've cherished a lot more time than I've wasted. If I were to die sometime soon, I'd be almost content with my life. 

I've also learned that you can't take anything for granted. Even if it's the simple luxury of hot water or the grand expense of a mansion, you've got to be thankful for everything you have. It can be taken or crushed or it can form into something completely different and it'll hurt. Don't take anything lightly, because it probably means the world to someone else. 

Looking back, I regret not spending more time with my parents. My mom died when I was 17, she was murdered by a wolf who I murdered in turn. Life was rough after that, but we pulled through. After the incident, I spent as much time as I could with friends and family, but still things were taken from me. My father died two years later from tuberculosis. It took longer for me to recover, because I'd just lost both of my parents within two years. Thankfully, I had him to keep me strong. 

"Come on over," Liam smiled at me, gesturing to me. Returning the smile, I walked over to him, Emily running up to me. 

"Are we going, too?" Emily asked me, her words slightly jumbled. She did good for a six-year-old. 

I laughed at her eagerness, "Yeah. Let's go." 

We walked up to Liam and Trent, who was the first to talk, "I thought it was a guy day, dad!" 

Liam chuckled, "Well if the girls want to come, they can." 

The twelve year old huffed, "Fine." 

"Thank you," I stated dramatically and he laughed. I turned to my mate-- my husband-- the love of my life, "Emily and I will pick some berries." 

Trent beamed, "And we'll do the hunting!" 

"Be careful my brave hunters," I warned them. Walking up to Liam, I kissed him on the lips, earning noises of disgust from the kids, "That means you, too." 

He rolled his eyes, "I'm always careful." 

Now it was my turn to do the eye rolling, "Yeah, yeah. Now get!" 

"What are we gonna do first, Mom?" Emily asked me. 

"I know where to get the best fruit," I told her and she smiled. Taking her hand in mine, I guided her towards the apple trees, "I hope you like apples." 

She furrowed her eyebrows and turned to me, "Why?" 

Moving a branch out of the way, she followed my gaze and dropped my hand, running towards the answer. The area was filled with apple trees, fresh and good to eat thanks to my "extraordinary" gardening (really all I did was spray for worms). 

So we picked some apples and put them in the basket Em had dragged along with her. We laughed and talked, munching on a couple of the apples we picked, throwing the rotten ones to the woods' floors.