Second Chance Romance (Southern Nights) Completed

Epilogue

“Second Chance Romance”

2012 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Epilogue

Love.

Love is a peculiar word. It isn’t prejudiced or unforgiving. It’s patient and on most days can outlast the most stubborn of people. It tends to creep up slowly and hit us when we least expect it. And when love; true honest love does happen to find us, it’s never ending.

That type of real love is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and its downs and sometimes a person can even get jerked a little sideways before they find a common ground. It’s testy at best but in the end, you’ll find that it’s so worth the effort to get there.

Austin and Jade learned the hard way that the heart wants what the heart wants. When you connect with a soul deep love like the one they shared, they found that no matter what the circumstances are, it’s not something that's easy to run away from.

It’s been a little over a year since Oliver woke up from his coma. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and in the small, southern town of Hillsborough there seems to be a lot of something special floating around in the air.

During this year Jade and Austin continued to date, taking every new day, one at a time. Jade never fully regained her memory and now days, it didn’t seem to matter anymore. Every now and then, she would get a flash of something from her past and when she did, she would cherish it for what it was.

What really mattered the most to her now were the new memories that she was making; new memories with Libby and Austin. Since Oliver and Libby's accident she had learned to live in the here and now and not take life for granted. When it came to her friends and family, too much was at stake and in the span of a mere heart beat; she knew how well it could all be taken away.

She looked forward to going to bed at night with Austin at her side and waking up in the mornings with Libby jumping excitedly on their bed. She loved everything about her life now, even all the messy parts that went with it. She even decided that this Thanksgiving she wanted to have a big family dinner with all the trimmings and invited half the town to join them.

What she didn’t know was that Austin had a little surprise of his own. He was planning to propose to her. For so long he thought that she was lost to him. On most days he knew he didn’t deserve her but he was too selfish to let that hold him back. When Jade returned to Hillsborough, he was given a second chance at love.

He didn’t bother to ask why anymore because only the Lord above could answer that single question. He just took it for what it was and held on to it with everything he had in him. Somehow, this lovely lady had been able to forgive him and see past his youthful mistake. Not for who he was, but for who he is now.

He loved her. He had always loved her and he knew he would never love another the way that he loved Jade Sampson.

Oliver had healed and was back on the job with minimal scarring. Austin and Jade had nearly driven him insane during his recovery. Every day, one or the other of them had been there, pushing him, encouraging him… being everything that Jade had said they would be- friends... true friends. It was hard for him to accept Austin’s help at first but with time, he begrudgingly gave in to the guy. He even realized that Austin wasn’t half bad. Annoying, yes, but still a good man when it really counted.

And then there was the darling little Libby. Who couldn’t love that little girl? She was a bright ray of sunshine chasing all the dark clouds away. He held a special place in his heart for that little girl. She was still fascinated with his guns and when she batted those adorable , long lashes at him, he couldn’t find it in himself to tell her no.

Hell, he even rued the day that she would bring a boy home. He’d already told Austin that he would be sitting on the front porch with his shot gun in hand, waiting- waiting and daring the fella to make a wrong move. Austin, laughed but it wasn’t because he saw anything funny. He told him that he’d be right there beside him.

Poor Libby… with Austin and Oliver standing guard,it looked like she was going to have quite a road ahead to travel.

The week before, Oliver received the invitation to Jade and Austin’s dinner and graciously accepted. After all, he had some good news of his own to share. During his recovery, he had another drill sergeant telling him what to do, the very beautiful and enigmatic Nurse Lyla.

Over the last few months they had grown closer together. Not just physically but intimately too. It had been two nights before when Lyla casually informed him over a candlelight dinner that she was pregnant. Oliver was stunned at first and after the initial shock wore off, he jumped up from the table, grabbed Lyla around the waist and swung her around. He proposed to her that very night and of course, she accepted. Oliver finally found love, real love this time. He knew it because if felt it in the depths of his soul. It’s a love that can’t be mistaken and one that he planned to nurture and cherish as long as he lived.

Then there was Libby. Before they moved it had always just been her and her mama. That was okay but now that they were in the new house she felt loved more than she ever had before. She had her mama and her daddy, Uncle Olly and Nurse Lyla and then there was Uncle Tim and her cousins. She had everything now that she ever wanted….

Well almost everything …. As she got ready for bed, she folded up the letter that she was writing Santa Claus. There was one thing that she didn’t have yet and she wanted it more than anything now. The only person she could think of that might help her was Santa Claus. She didn’t think it was too much to ask for, at least she hoped it wasn’t. She promised Santa that if he helped her get this one thing then she would be her mama and daddy’s bestest helper. All she wanted was a baby brother or sister.

You never know, by the time Christmas rolls around she just may get her wish. Love is definitely the element in the air this holiday season and when one wishes hard enough, wishes often can and do come true.

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Author's Note:

Thank you for making it this far into the story! I've had great fun writing it and being on this journey with you all, and your enthusiasm and support really made the whole process worthwhile. It's been really fun reading and responding to your comments. Hope you enjoyed the story as much as I have.

If you like this story, feel free to check out the others one in the Southern Nights series, "The Wildflower" and "The Rented Husband". I'm also working on a project to continue Libby's story with the main character Brandon from "The Wildflower". To learn more about the project, please go to my profile and click on the "Support MercyRose's Fan Funding Project" button.

Thank you all. See you in another story!