Heartbeat

Thirty-Eight

This is the final chapter of Heartbeat! Thank you so much for reading it! Maybe you'll see some characters back in a sequel, if I ever get around to finishing it with Zoe and Adam my central characters.

Sarah, xx

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EPILOGUE.

EMMA

If you had told me two months ago that I’d be waking up to Jordan Knight in my bed after a pretty perfect night where we’d had sex twice, then I would have told you that you’re crazy. Not just slightly nutty, not even crazy with a few loose screws. No, you would have been branded bat-shit crazy.

But what do I know?

If you had told me two months ago that I could get past the fact that my brother died, I would have rolled my eyes. You would have been deranged to try and convince me that I could forgive myself for letting him go out on the ice that night. You would have been equally mad to tell me that I could think about my brother and see something other than him being dragged unconscious from the lake.

But things change.

I never thought I’d fall in love. I didn’t think I was capable. But I am.

I never thought that my whole life could change in just two months. It would be damned near impossible to change anyone’s life in such a short amount of time, let alone tackle mine. I always wanted someone to come riding into my life on a white steed and make everything better. I wanted the fairy tales that I’d read and heard about. Prince Charming to boot.

I didn’t get my Prince Charming, though.

I got my Knight, instead, and he’s pretty charming.

I owe Jordan a lot, although he’d argue until he’s blue in the face that it’s him that owes me. Either way, I know that without Jordan, I wouldn’t be the girl I am today. I wouldn’t be able to smile just for the sake of smiling. I wouldn’t be able to laugh just because it’s natural. Jordan had come and kicked those walls down. I didn’t have to be the Emma people expected me to be. I could be the Emma I really was.

Despite being in the throes of winter, I got dressed for school today and wore something I haven’t worn in years. To be honest, I was half amazed that I still had a dress lingering in the deepest, darkest crevice of my closet. But as I rummaged through this morning, there it was. I’d studied it carefully, taking in the bohemian print and the autumnal colors. I wasn’t sure if it was a look I could carry, but I tried it anyway. Examining my reflection in the mirror, I determined that I didn’t look all that bad.

My choice of outfit had earned an approving nod from my father, once he had checked the hemline wasn’t too short. Mom, on the other hand, had a different reaction. She gasped audibly, stammered a sentence that no-one understood, then came to hug me.

“You look beautiful, Emma,” she whispered as she patted my hair.

“Thanks, Mom,” I smiled to her once she’d pulled away.

Mom and Dad were trying to work on their relationship, and Dad had spent a lot of the week either up at my grandparent’s cabin talking with my mom or they’d both spent the time in therapy with Dr. Warren. I’d raved about her so much since my session last week that Mom gave the good doctor a call herself. They weren’t in marriage counseling, at least not yet, but they were getting grief counseling. Dr. Warren had determined after their first session that their biggest problem was the fact that they hadn’t dealt with Alex’s death. Until they could come to terms with that then there wasn’t much point starting to fix their marriage.