BETHANY

Epilogue

Several years later...

Bethany David kissed her daughter on the head and waved as the five year old ran off to join her friends on the swings. Kaylin David was a bundle of energy, innocent and curious about the world around her. She was extremely smart and according to Beth's Mum, was exactly like Beth at that age.

Sitting on the bench, Beth crossed one leg over the other as she watched her daughter playing, her laughter floating across the playground, clear as bells. As she sat, she found herself lost in thought.

Terrin and Beth had been together since Beth was fifteen. When Beth was five, she was kidnapped by a man intent on destroying her father's life. She didn't particularly like to bring up her ten years stuck in a brothel, but thinking back on it, Beth wouldn't change it for the world, for it was those ten years that made her the woman she was now.

Recovery had been slow, but had been sped up some by Beth's childlike innocence and her tendency to trust slowly, but once she trusted you, she was faithful forever and it would be very hard to break that trust - which admittedly could be a bad thing sometimes. Beth had tried very hard to start over and break the tendencies the brothel and Jerome Flint had ingrained into her, but it was a difficult thing. Her family helped tremendously, but none more so than her knight and boyfriend, Terrin David.

Terrin was the one to save her from the brothel and Beth couldn't help but fall in love with him immediately. She knew that he tried to convince himself it wasn't love, but she won in the end and they soon ended up together. Of course, it was a bit of a long distance relationship, what with Beth going to Highleaf Academy and Terrin working in the police force, actually beating Keiran in the end.

Beth and Terrin remained together all through her schooling and after, Beth quickly got a job as a primary school teacher in Nursery and Reception. Her childlike nature never truly left, which made her a favourite with many of the students, as she was always willing to join in and participate in their games, but didn't let them do whatever they wanted whenever.

When she was 24, Terrin proposed and she said yes immediately. It was on Christmas Day at Grandma Carly's house in the snow with the hall family watching. Beth loved it. A year after they married, Terrin brought up the subject of babies. Beth was unsure at first, somehing that was agreed with by her mother, but in the end, Beth's want for a child overtook her fear and they began trying. But after two years of no luck and countless failures, they discovered Beth was unable to have children due to the suffering of her childhood.

They were distraught. Beth had gotten her hopes up and she so desperately wanted a child, but her dreams had been shattered. Then on her birthday she got the biggest surprise ever and the best birthday present she could ever have asked for. Her older sister, Chloe, who was already married with four children, offered to be a surrogate. They said yes straight away and eight months later, along came Kaylin Chloe David, named after the woman who made her existence possible.

Unfortunately, Grandma Carly had passed away three months before Kaylin's birth, and Beth was upset that her grandmother had never recieved the chance to meet baby Kaylin. When Kaylin was one, tragedy struck again and Beth's Dad passed away, a stroke. Beth was inconsolable for days, before she got herself together for Kaylin's sake.

Now, Beth's Aunt Darcy was ill, diagnosed with cancer and they feared the doctors wouldn't be able to help her. The family were spending as much times as they could with her, every spare second, just in case, but they didn't give up hope of her being cured.

Beth squealed as she felt four taps on her shoulder, then hands slid over her eyes. "Guess who?" Terrin whispered in her ear.

She beamed. The first time Terrin had done that, but without the taps, Beth had had a major freakout, the trauma of her past kicking in at not heing able to see nor knowing who it was. Terrin calmed her down quickly and they devised a plan that Terrin would tap her shoulder four times before he covered her eyes. It ruined the effect a little, but was just as fun.

"Oh, I don't know," Beth sighed. "Could it be my cousin come to take me to Spain with her?"

Bella's fiancé's family were Spanish and they were constantly spending half their time over there.

Terrin made an incorrect buzzer noise.

"Or maybe my sister, come to take me out for ice cream?" Beth joked.

"Wrong again!"

"Ah," Beth smiled. "So it must be my gorgeous knight of a husband, come to give me a kiss."

"And you're correct!" Terrin jumped over the back of the bench and sat next to her, kissing her lightly on the lips. "And how is my beautiful wife?"

"She's just perfect," Beth replied, leaning on his shoulder.

Terrin wrapped his arm around her. "Where's Kaylin?"

"Swings," Beth replied instantly, only to look there and not see her. "Or at least...she was..." fear sparked inside her and she looked round, not able to see Kaylin anywhere else in the park. Standing up, she looked round desperately. "Kaylin!"

This couldn't be happening again, not now, not ever. Once was more than enough.

"Kaylin!" Terrin yelled, gripping his wife's hand as they moved towards the swings. "Kaylin!"

"Boo!" A small voice shouted from behind them and they jumped, spinning to see Kaylin, giggling away.

"Kaylin!" Beth cried, falling to her knees and pulling her daughter into a hug. "Don't you ever, ever, ever do that to me again! I was so scared!"

Kaylin frowned. "Why Mummy? I was just playing."

"I know sweetie," Beth said softly, standing up and lifting Kaylin onto her hip. "But Mummy doesn't like games like that, becuase it reminds Mummy of something really really bad that happened to her when she was little."

"What happened?" Kaylin asked curiously.

Terrin exchanged a look with his wife before speaking, "When Mummy was your age, a very bad man took Mummy away from her family and he hurt her a lot. She was trapped and the family couldn't find her and nobody else could either. Ten years later, Daddy saw Mummy, but he had to leave her to keep her safe. He did rescue Mummy's sister who was also trapped, Auntie Chloe. Daddy and Uncle Will came back and they found Mummy, but the bad people got them and Daddy and Mummy were hurt. They were rescued. For a while Daddy tried to stay away from Mummy, to try to protect her, but he realised he was wrong and he went to see Mummy. They kissed and were soon very, very in love."

Kaylin was wide eyed by the end of Terrin's tale, hugging Beth tightly. "You're not telling me everything," she deduced cleverly. "Will you ever?"

"Not everything," Beth shook her head. "But maybe when you're bigger, we'll tell you a little more. But not yet."

"I'm glad Daddy found you Mummy," Kaylin smiled. "Because if he didn't, I wouldn't have a Mummy, then I'd be sad." Neither had the heart to tell her that wouldn't quite be right. "Becuase I love you Mummy. Lots and lots."

"I love you too sweetie."

"Well, I love both my girls."

And then, in the middle of the park, all three shared a group hug, relaxing in each other's arms, content with the knowledge that they were happy and loved.