Flutter by, Butterfly

Epilogue

We had our smaller boat ready to take us away. We told the babies that the sounds were just fireworks. There were quite a few going off on the boat anyway. Alejandro directed our boat to go to Pelican Cay, a private island he had purchased from the Bahamas. We had a home their waiting for us, and a new life.

I wish I could tell you that we lived happily ever after, that we were frozen in time just like this; but the mind machine that had been used on Alejandro at the last gave him terrible side effects. He managed to keep our family safe from all of our enemies before this happened, eradicating all of our threats.

Miguel Jr. grew up to be a scientist, studying the effects of the human brain. I couldn't help but believe that he was trying to find a cure for his father. Maria Jan grew up to be a psychologist, offering comfort to people that she was never able to provide for her father. Maria was able to keep her original name, and openly claim her grandchildren as her grandchildren, without any fear or consequences.

As for my husband, there were moments when he would wake up with memories lost, losing a little more each time. Some days he would get them back. Some days lingered when he didn't. Some days he didn't even remember his own name, and would wake up in a blind panic, "Who AM I? What am I doing here?" Cindy took it the hardest. She said it made her feel as if she had lost him all over again. She continued to live with Mateo and Mattie, until they were able to settle into their own individual hopes and dreams.

The older Alejandro became, the more often the loss of memories would occur, and the longer the loss would last. As we grew old together, Alejandro slowly slipped into Alzheimer's. My heart broke a little more the worse he became. On his death bed, he said my name. He had not remembered it in so long. It was his first moment I could sense he was completely whole, and our last.

"You didn't believe I would forget you, did you?" he asked. I held him close, weeping in his embrace.

"No tears, my love. I can't leave you this way."

"Then don't."

"You know I would never leave my butterfly, but this body is not giving me a choice." He looked at me, wiping my tears away so tenderly. "All these years, you were so good to me. How did you ever find the strength to stand by someone so broken?"

"You saved me," I said. "You saved our family. And then you made certain this could never again happen to anyone else. I would have been lost if it weren't for you. Don't ever say that you were broken. I only loved you all the more for your battle scars."

"My darling..." He kissed me one last time. "Tu eres la dulzura en mi vida."

"Mi salvador, I love you."

He died in my arms. He was 72. We buried him next to his twin brother in the place we never visited but never sold. We buried Maria there the following year. She made it to 90. I lingered a year or two more, my heart growing in worse condition with each passing month. I died in the same chair as Maria, watching my children play with my grandchildren, but still my soul lingered, watching over them. M.J. was the first who noticed. She said nothing, and just sat beside me, her eyes welling with tears.

"Mama?" my son asked.

"She's gone, Miguel."

He did not believe her. He dragged my body down, trying to give me mouth to mouth. He desperately tried to revive my body, feeling guilty for mourning for his father so much he never noticed my failing health. His wife and sister took him away from my form, as he cried in my daughter in law's arms.

I lingered a little while more, watching over them. Though they could not hear me, I made certain they were listening. Miguel was to pay more attention to his family. Life may not have turned out the way he wanted, but he accomplished so much, and I couldn't be more proud of him. M.J., who had one failing relationship after another, was informed once more, "It is not your job to have to save anyone." For so many years, she only saw the hollowed out shell her father had become, rather than the man he actually was; and she would find a man with such a large void in his heart, it would be impossible to fill. I told her stories of her father, one last time, of the way he treated me before. This was the kind of man that she should adore. She became engaged to such a man later that year. This time he was the one trying to fill her empty spaces.

They buried me next to the love of my life. As we were all gathered there one last time, Bruno and Sandy admitted that they found Alejandro and me to be the most powerful examples of what true love was, and just how much it meant to stand by one another. Cindy, Mateo, and even Mattie admitted that we inspired them to keep hoping until it finally came true for them. Bruce and Clark, the ever loyal watchers that never left us, said nothing. They just wept silently, as they did twice before. My family left my remains there, leaving me there alone, when I felt his presence next to me.

"Flutter by butterfly. It's time for our fun in the sun."