Brothers At War [completed; unedited]

Brothers At War: The Epilogue

“Do you, Marcus James Barnes, take Sophie Lorraine Peterson to be your lawful wedded wife? To have and to hold from this day forward; for better for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish until death do you part?”

“I do.”

“And, do you Sophie Lorraine Peterson, take Marcus James Barnes to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold from this day forward; for better for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish until death do you part?”

“No. I don’t.” Sophie replied seriously, taking a step away from the man who was stood before her in all his glory. His grey suit simple, yet still sophisticated enough to show who he was.

“What? Wait? Why? Are you being serious?” Marcus panicked as he grabbed hold of his bride’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes, almost wanting to cry at the thought of her rejecting him now; at the thought of her not being there for him and him still being the person that he was before all of this happened.

“Calm down, I’m only joking. Of course I do.” Sophie grinned, placing her smaller hand in his much larger one with nothing other than happiness and joy in her eyes at that point.

“Don’t scare me like that. I don’t think I could live my life without you now.” Marcus sighed as the whole church erupted into “aws” from all over the place, though the loudest could be heard from Sophie’s best friend, Evva.

Evva had been the first person to discover that Sophie had slept with Marcus, that she had admitted that she loved him, that they were in a relationship; Sophie even told her of their engagement before she told anyone in her own family.

“I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Marcus wasted no time in doing as he had been given permission to do.

He removed the veil from his bride’s face, happily taking holding of her waist in his hands and pulled her in close. The love in his eyes was obvious to anyone who looked and you could tell that, although they weren’t perfect, they were perfect for each other.

“I love you Marcus Barnes.”

“I love you too Sophie Barnes.” he smiled and the moment he placed his lips on her was the moment where the whole church burst into cheers and shouts of joy; even Matt seemed to be happy for his younger brother and was taking in the atmosphere as though it was his own wedding all over again.

The only difference between this wedding and Matt’s wedding was that the two of them were genuinely in love. Marcus and Sophie were an example of what it was like to be so in love with someone that, no matter what their faults or their problems, you could always love them and be there for them without judgment.

The day in which Sophie became Mrs Barnes washed through her head and she couldn’t help but smile to herself, remembering all the times she spent pushing him away and refusing to let him into her life; but all they did was make him want her even more than he did.

The day that she walked away and left him at the airport, the sadness evident as he watched the door close behind her and then watched her plane take off; leaving him with nothing but a broken heart and a whole bunch of tears he had never cried.

He didn’t contact her, just as she had asked him to do. He didn’t even go to the meeting he was supposed to have with her, he didn’t think he would be able to handle seeing the woman that gave him everything just to take it all back again. He didn’t even bother to answer her calls when she was the one chasing after him, he couldn’t bare the thought of her stringing him along just to push him out later when she was done with him.

Two years.

Two years. That’s how long it took for Marcus to want to even speak to Sophie again, and that was only with the help of Matt; it was his brother that told him how stupid he was being and if he didn’t buck up his ideas then he was going to lose the best thing to have ever happened to him.

“What are you thinking about?” Marcus asked, taking a seat beside his wife.

“Just. Life.” she smiled in reply.

“What about life?” he grinned as he placed his hand on her stomach, rubbing the small bump which was beginning to show.

“Nothing in particular. Just how we got from where we were, to where we are now.”

“And do you regret any of it?”

“Apart from marrying you and having your baby, I regret nothing.” she teased, putting her hand over the top of his.

“Hm. Naturally.” he muttered as he gave her a quick kiss.

“Need I remind you what happened the last time you got carried away?” she muttered jokingly, knowing that she wasn’t happier than she was right now; knowing that this was the life which she had planned out for herself. Though she may not be sharing it with the person she thought she would be sharing it with, she was happy and that was all that mattered to her in the end.

“A little fun never hurt anyone.” he smirked.

“Trust me Marcus, in eight months time, your fun will not only be hurting me--” she paused for a moment with a massive grin before continuing, “--but it will also be hurting you.”

“You’d never hurt me.”

“Wanna bet?”

“OK. No fun for eight months. I can do that. No problem.” Marcus sighed pretending that he was in a mood as he moved away from Sophie.

“I don’t think I’ve told you lately.”

“Told me what?”

“I love you Marcus.”

“I love you too Soph.”

I know this is like a really cheesy and perfect ending, but it's more or less how I always planned for it to go; although there was another idea in my mind which I was going to use and they weren't going to get their happy ending. However, that being said, I don't actually like this very much and when I have the time it shall more than likely end up changing into something I am happier with.

I would also just like to thank the people who have stuck with this book until the end, despite there being some really bad chapters between here and the beginning. I do hope you have enjoyed reading and that it wasn't too cliche for your liking; I know how some people don't like cliche stories.

This is also the first teen fiction book I have actually finished, so I am happy with myself for managing that one and for actually getting to the end of it. Now that this is done, I shall be updating Broken and I am currently working through a couple of ideas for The Escort so that should be updated pretty soon too.

Anyway, thanks for reading and this is the end of Brothers At War.