I Love You, Ian Somerhalder: A Fresh Start

Epilogue

It has been three years.
Three years since I discovered I was pregnant.
Three years since I ran away from the man I loved.
Three years since I made the worst decision of my life.
But it's done. There's nothing I can do about it now.

I kept up with Ian in the media. He sort of went off the grid for a while, but in the past few months he's been spotted around with a new girl. Blonde. Gorgeous. Probably better than I'll ever be.
Of course I'm happy for him, but every time I see a picture of the two my heart crumbles a little more.
However, every time I turn and look down to my side, I see something that makes my world light up.

Emily-Rae Shipman.

My two year old daughter.

Yes, I kept the baby. And I don't regret it one bit. What I do regret is not telling Ian, and not having him in mine and little Emily's life anymore.

Hopefully it'll change soon. I was invited to Amy and Joseph's wedding, and informed that Ian would, in fact, be there.
I smiled at the thought of seeing him again; but I frowned at the thought of how he would greet me. Maybe he wouldn't greet me at all......

Nevertheless, I was going back to America, with my baby girl, to support my best friend on her wedding day.

//
When we arrived, Amy immediately jumped onto me and squeezed me tightly.

"Oh my gosh I haven't seen you in so long!" She screeched.

"I know I know! Please stop hugging me before I get crushed!" I laughed.
Amy let me go and kneeled down to lift up Emily.

"Hello Emily! Ooh haven't you grown since I last saw you! Do you remember me? Aunty Amy?"

Emily giggled and stuttered, "Au-nty!"

Amy clapped in delight and started walking away with Emily. I ran to keep up and Amy led us to her car.

Once Emily and I were settled in she decided that she wanted to go to a park. I sighed and asked Amy for directions.

I took my daughter's hand and walked to the park.

I was sat on a bench as I watched watched Emily playing on the slide with all the other kids.

Suddenly I heard barking and a cute little dog bounded over to me. He started licking my face as I laughed and ruffled his fur behind the ears.

"Ash! Ash!" I heard a man yell. The dog immediately ran back to his owner.

Wait. Ash? I'd heard that before. That was the name of the dog Ian gave me for Christmas. The puppy I left with him when I ran away......

"Hey, I'm sorry about my dog. He likes people," someone said, chuckling.

I was snapped out of my thoughts and looked up.

The man's eyes widened in surprise.

"N-Natalie?"

"Ian." I replied.

"You're here?"

"Uh, yeah, it's Amy's wedding."

Ian nodded, "Of course, of course."

Suddenly Emily was by my side, asking for a drink.

"Okay, sweetie, we'll go back to Aunty Amy's in a minute."

Ian's eyes widened yet again, "that's your daughter??"

I looked down at my feet, "Uh, yeah. She's almost 3 now."

Ian took a second to register what I just said.

"Wait. Three years? So- she's mine?!"

I nodded slowly, "Yes. She's yours. And I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I was scared. I-"

"No need to apologise. I understand now," Ian cut me off.

I gave him a small smile and took Emily's hand, "I'd better go. Can't keep her waiting for long."

Ian's chuckled, "of course."

"See you around?" I said hopefully.

"Yeah, uh, I'll be at the wedding," he stammered.

I nodded and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Ian called out to me, " Do you maybe wanna get dinner tomorrow night?"

I thought about it but couldn't resist.
"Sure, yeah that's cool."

Thank you and goodbye!