Conceited Ways E.D

Epilogue

"Daddy, what was aunt Mercy like?" Grace, Grayson's and Eden's daughter asks as we stand in front of her grave.

"She was gorgeous, inside and out, just like your mom." He answers with a smile. I lay down the flowers I got for her on her grave.

"And you guys were all friends?" Their son Johnathon asks and we all smile at each other.

It's weird how things turned out. Mercy is most likely still shocked that Ethan and I are still together. She's also probably happy that her sister and the love of her life are together. She would want them to both be happy.

"Yeah, we were." I answer as my daughter, Blair clings onto my leg. Ethan was already holding her twin brother Jordan.

I look around and see our whole family. Eden and Grayson with their two kids along with our three kids. Johnathon and the twins were best friends since they're only a month apart.

"You must miss her." Ashton states and grabs onto my hand. It was crazy that he was already nine.

"There's not a moment when I don't." Eden responds and we all nod in agreement.

I can't help but still take blame for that night, but if it didn't happen then we might not have the family we have today, and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

"What do you do when you miss her?" Jordan asks and I walk closer to Ethan.

"We visit her here, and when we can't, we pray to her. We all know she listens." Ethan answers and it was true. I'd be lying if I said I didn't pray to Mercy a couple times before.

"And she listens?" Blair asks and then the leaves on the trees all around us started blowing from the wind.

"Are you kidding? Your aunt would do anything to listen to our gossip and our stories, of course she listens!" I answer and it felt like she was here with us.

I could see Grayson start to get teary eyed. Today marks twelve years since she's been gone. There's no doubt in my mind that he doesn't love Eden as much as her, because he does. You just can't ever forget about your first love.

"Can we go to the park now?" Johnathon asks and we let out a small laugh. Mercy wouldn't want us to stand here all day mourning over her. She'd want us to be happy together.

"Yeah, lets go." Grayson answers and picks him up to put him on his shoulders.

Blair laid her head on my shoulder and Ashton held my hand. Everyone started to walk, but me. I didn't want to leave her again.

"Are you okay mom?" Ashton asks and I nod my head. I wipe away my tears and Ashton pulls my hand to make me bend down towards him.

"Don't worry mom, dad says she's in a better place." He tells me and I couldn't believe he understood death. He was always mature for his age.

"I know, it just sucks living without her." I tell him like I expect my own son to comfort me. He gives me a half hug since he wasn't to fond of affection either.

"I feel like when people die they are still with us, like they never leave us." He explains and I smile a little.

"When did you become smarter than me?" I ask and he laughs. I stand back up since crouching down was starting to hurt my legs.

"I've always been smarter." He brags and then runs to catch up to Ethan. I fast walk to catch up to everybody as well.

We walk to the park across the street from the cemetery. All the kids run to the playground, well all of them besides one. Ashton sits on the swing and pulls out his book. He never acted like a normal kid.

"Isn't this amazing?" Eden asks as we all sit on the bench. Ethan wraps his arm around me and I move towards him.

"What is?" I ask not sure if she was actually talking about the playground.

"Our life. I'd say we have it pretty well." She responds and I agree. I couldn't ask for more.

I have a loving husband who I still don't love any less than I did the day I told him. We have three beautiful children and Grayson and Eden have two.

"I can't imagine it getting better." Grayson states and he was right. Nothing could beat this moment than right now.

"Can you imagine them graduating and going to prom?" Eden asks with a smile and my eyes widen. I am not trying to get ahead of myself here.

"We're just trying to get the twins through preschool." I laugh not being able to picture them grown up.

"At least your daughter didn't ask for an Iphone. She's only three! I don't understand." Grayson says and we all laugh. Grace definitely was Grayson's princess.

"No ours just asked for a dirt bike." Ethan chuckles and it was true. I can't believe Blair is a girl, she acts nothing like one.

It's probably since Jordan is her best friend and he's a boy. He does all these boy things and she got into them too. She even has this weird obsession with bugs like he does. I'm hoping that's just a phase.

"Definitely seems like your guy's daughter." Grayson chuckles and I smile watching her tackle Johnathon. She never played nice, especially with the boys.

"Yeah, but I have no clue where Ashton came from, he's a genius!" Ethan laughs and it was true. He's already asking us about skipping a grade because school is too easy for him. He definitely didn't get that from me.

"Well Johnathon is already asking to play football. It reminds me when we played." Grayson tells us and Ethan smiles.

"And Grace is still asking to be a princess." Eden laughs and we all look at our children.

All of our children were different from each other, but they all got along with each other, of course they had their fights, mainly Blair and Grace. They don't have the same sense of humor, we found that out when Blair put worms in Grace's bed.

"Just wait till they're teenagers, it's going to be hell. Do you know how bad I was?" I ask and they instantly start nodding.

"Wow, thanks for the, 'no Rae you weren't that bad.'" I say and they start to laugh.

"I think they'll be fine, they seem like good kids." Eden says and it didn't surprise me that she thought that.

Not only did she do nothing wrong, but she never was around many people who did. She would be the one to be optimistic about it.

"Besides, being parents can't be that hard, if it was there wouldn't be so many." Ethan states and I roll my eyes. I question his logic all the time.

"Have some hope Rae, not every kid is like you." Grayson laughs and I playfully smack him.

We watch as Grace plays the princess and all the others were play fighting with each other. Good parents would probably not let their kids get that rough, but we were just hoping they'd get all their energy out. Ashton was already half way done with his book and never looked up from it.

If only we knew how hard they'd be in a couple of years