Dark Valentine (Monster High; Book 1 of the DV Duology)

Epilogue: Everything

Jackson

"Jackson, I think we should really talk. About...us."

A few months after the wedding, Frankie had asked me to meet her at the Coffin Bean during my lunch break so she could talk to me about something. Kieran and I both wondered what she could possibly have wanted, but I wouldn't have guessed it was about this. "What about us?" I asked, keeping my voice at a somewhat quiet level, "As far as I'm concerned, we stopped being 'us' a pretty long time ago. And—and I'm married now, so—"

"Yes, you are married," Frankie interrupted me, "and...I'm sure I made my feelings about your husband quite clear. But what I mean is, whatever issues there may be between us, I think we should clear them up as best we can. We've talked a bit about it before, but every time we have, one of us always walks away right in the middle of the conversation and nothing gets resolved. That's why I'm here."

"Alright then..." I was listening. I wanted everything resolved, too.

"I know you told me once before that you were fine with me and Neighthan being together, and that it was okay for me to have moved on. And we've talked about you and Clair. And...you and Kieran. But I have a feeling you haven't said everything you needed to," Frankie continued.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"There's more that you wanted to tell me back then, but I never gave you the chance. And I'm sorry for that."

She had a point there. I took a deep breath before beginning, knowing this might take a minute. "Okay...let's start with the whole 'hitting pause' thing. I wish you'd have been straight with me. It was a breakup, let's be honest here. And after that you started dating other guys. Now, I don't mean Andy and Neighthan since I was already with Clair when you dated them, and Hoodude is irrelevant since that happened before you even met me. But anyway, I was pretty hurt since you said you'd still be there. I know—" I held up a hand when she opened her mouth to protest, "I know people move on. I get that. And we've talked about that stuff, and the stuff with me and Clair before. And like I said, by the time you started dating Neighthan, I'd moved on. I was genuinely happy for you, no hard feelings or anything. I was with Clair at that point, had been for about a year—and then like I told you back in school, she broke up with me for Chad. But she was straight with me, made sure I knew that yes, it was a breakup, but that we could still be friends and all that."

Frankie's mismatched eyes held a guilty expression. "I'm sorry for leading you and Holt on like that. It was wrong."

"I forgive you, Frankie. I'm not angry." It was true; I'd forgiven her for everything a long time ago. "But the thing is, you were upset when I told you about Clair and I, and you mentioned that you still liked me. And you and Andy broke up because of it. But you never told me you liked me still or anything...and it never came up again until that conversation we had. That's why I didn't understand any of it. And you were also upset when you found out I was dating Kieran. And when I told you about my engagement to him."

"But my reason behind that was different. I didn't trust him, and part of me still doesn't, to be honest. After everything he's done, what he did to all those girls and Draculaura, can you blame me if I can't let that go?"

I sighed. "Do you want my honest opinion? Yes. Because for someone who claims to be accepting of everyone and who believes that everyone deserves a second chance, you haven't made much of an effort to give him one, or to get to know him at all."

Frankie seemed to struggle for words momentarily as she replied, "No, because I just - I can't help but feel like he's just going to hurt you, or—or steal your heart, or—"

"But like I said, don't you think that if he were going to do that, he would've tried by now? And he wouldn't have married me if that were his plan. I was friends with him for a while before I even started dating him. And keep in mind that we've been together for years now and nothing has happened. He's changed. And if you can't trust him...at least trust me," I told her. It bothered me that she still distrusted him this much, especially since so much time had passed. It was extremely out-of-character for Frankie Stein of all people to hold a grudge like this.

"I do trust you, Jackson, and I'm glad you're happy, I just...I worry. And I'm sorry for the way I've been about this whole thing," Frankie's voice held an apologetic tone, and I could tell from that and the look in her eyes that she was being genuine.

"It's okay, just - just please try to give him a chance, OK?" I asked.

"I'll try. Thank you for telling me that stuff. I needed to hear it, and I'm sure you needed to get it off your chest."

"Yeah, I did. Thank you for that." I decided to change to a lighter subject after that, now that Frankie and I were okay again. "Hey, I noticed you and Neighthan are back together."

They'd broken up for some reason and this time it was one I didn't know.

Frankie visibly brightened at my words. "Yeah, we are! We have been for a while now."

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you guys," I said with a smile.

"Thanks, Jackson. And I'm honestly happy for you, too, even if I don't completely trust Kieran yet," she smiled back.

"Thanks, Frankie." I then checked my watch. "I uh...I hate to cut this short, but I should probably get back to work. It was nice talking to you, though. And I'm glad we sorted everything out, finally."

"Me, too, Jackson. Thanks for that."

"No problem."

It was around 4:30 PM when I finally finished work and when I returned home I immediately changed into dark blue jeans and a black dress shirt. Kieran wasn't home yet, but he would most likely be on his way soon. I decided to do a bit of drawing to pass the time, and about a half hour into it my iCoffin buzzed.

'On my way home now.'

Kieran.

I texted him a quick 'okay, see you soon' and about ten minutes later the front door opened. As soon as I heard it I set my sketchpad down and got up to greet him with a kiss. "Hey," I said once the kiss was over. I then noticed his expression. "What's up? You look like something's on your mind."

"Well, yeah, there is something I wanted to talk to you about," admitted Kieran.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as the two of us made our way over to the couch.

"Yes, of course," said Kieran, "I got some pretty big news earlier today. I've been itching to tell you, but I felt it was too important to send in a text."

For a moment I feared it might be something bad, but from the way his eyes were lighting up I could tell that wasn't the case. Whatever he was about to tell me couldn't possibly be negative. "What is it?" I pressed further, "You can tell me, Kieran."

What he said next filled me with a level of happiness indescribable in words and from the way he spoke, the vampire's own joy was unmistakable. 

"Jackson...our application to adopt was approved. We're on the waiting list."

THE END.

A/N: That's it for this story, folks! And just as a fun fact, this story was finally completed on Valentine's Day of 2020, something I find to be rather fitting!  (I say 'finally' since it took me over a year and a half to actually write the story before posting it to Wattpad xD)

Be sure to check out the sequel to this story, too! It's called Both Sides Now, and you can find it posted near the top of my Works list. In the meantime, thank you all for reading Dark Valentine!

--ouatfan