Fracture

Part 25

Epilogue

17 years later:

 For years, it seemed like our world truly had fractured. I lost a father, Lex lost a brother, Josiah a nephew, and Jack a son. Shortly after James' death, Josiah met someone who shifted his whole world. He adopted her two years later and he's been raising her in a suburb of Chicago ever since. He's doing really well and proudly raises his daughter on his own.

The reverberations of pain and emotion kept happiness for Jack just beyond arms reach. Ten years after James' death, Jack suffered a massive stroke, dying on the operating table twice. Still, my mom stood with him. Loyalty doesn't even begin to cover it. Three months after his stroke, Jack died in his sleep.

Tiny spirals of memories have cracked the perfect image of life into shards, like the broken glass from a mirror, reflecting our mistakes all around us. It wasn't until Lex and I had moved into our farmhouse outside of the city that we felt like we could move on. Still, even on the calmest days, that fractured glass is scattered and we will find a sliver in the smallest moments- stealing the breath from our lungs. Every morning, I pray that James is finally at peace. His death was laced with regret and remorse- no one deserves that. My father, at least, died doing right by his kid. James, though, died feeling unloved, unwanted. My heart shatters every time I think about it, adding new shards of glass to the collection.

*********

"Jae, Jocelyn, and Josie- nana's here!" I called up the stairs. All 3 of our daughters rush down the stairs, nearly tripping over each other and the dog on their way outside to greet my mother. I turned to the door and stand on our wrap-around front porch.

"Nicola-" Lex wrapped her in a hug before she turned to each of the girls. I was worried she'd notice that Jae has started dreaming again. She sees the same person in all of them, says he keeps her safe. She's the only one who shows any signs of having our dreams. I often wondered if the younger girls are and they just don't know how to say it yet. Mom's eyes turned to Jae. Damn it, she figured it out.

"You've been dreaming again, haven't you?" She smiled.

"Of a man, nana. I swear I know him, Nana. He's super tall, with dark green eyes." Mother looked at me in shock. "He tells me all the time that I look like mama and that he'll keep me safe. And he told me to tell you both that he only dreams happy dreams- that he knows mama is safe. He's always so nice." Her messy bun bounced as my mother hugged her before sending her to the kitchen.

"We've never had anyone dream of the dead, before." She whispered.

"I think it's him contacting her." I retorted. "She's been dreaming of other stuff, too. She knew when Jocelyn broke her arm, when the dog ran away, and she knew about our car accident. She's stronger than you and I were at her age." I continue.

"Seizures?" She asked.

"Few and far between, but, we do still have them." I smile.

"And yours."

"Haven't had one since I was pregnant with Josie 8 years ago. I respond before I'm interrupted by a blood-curdling yell from Jocelyn.

"MMMMAAAAMMMMAAAAAA!" The scream jolts me to stand as I rush up the stairs, Jae lying on the carpet.

"Great. I jinxed it." I grab the stopwatch pinned to her nightstand and start timing- estimating about 40 seconds to get up the stairs. 3 minutes later, she's slowly waking.

"Mama?" She asked. "Mama, I had a new dream." Her hands gripped mine as she tried to sit up on her own. She stumbled back down, before Lex picked her up and put her in her bed. "I saw a boy- mama- and he's beautiful. He has the prettiest blue eyes, almost as blue as daddy's. Oh, mama. He was wearing a tux. I think I just met the man I'm gonna marry, mama." She smiled.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Lex interrupted. "Your mama dreamt of your uncle before meeting me. Maybe this boy is just a prom date?" I nudged Lex before he chuckled.

"No, daddy, he's not just a prom date. Prom dates don't kiss like that."

"And how the fu-" I coughed to interrupt him. "And you have experience?" He finished.

"Enough to know you don't kiss a woman in a white dress on prom-night in front of 200 people and a preacher." She rolled to her side and closed her eyes. As we made our way to the stairs, Lex took me into his arms and kissed me, pulling me closer to his chest, lifting my feet entirely off of the ground.

"You know, you were right about two things," I started, he tried to shush me, but I kept going. "One, It was always meant to be this, us, forever and two I sti-" He interrupted me with a kiss on the nose.

"Two? You still don't fucking listen." He growled, pulling me back to his lips.