There's No Way

Epilogue

Shortly before Hazel's second birthday, both Shawn and Camila's parents made the decision to move so they could be closer to their granddaughter.

Aaliyah and Sofi, who had quickly become best friends, both ended up going to college at NYU and made visits to see their family as often as they could.

Once Hazel was two, Shawn and Camila decided to begin trying for another baby. They knew the odds of her getting pregnant again were low, but because of their miracle daughter they also knew that it wasn't completely out of the question. After three years of trying to conceive a child the old fashioned way, they finally made the decision to move forward with surrogacy. Their first attempt at conceiving a child via surrogacy was a success and their second daughter, Elsie Rosette, was born 37 weeks later. When Elsie was just 5 months old, Camila noticed that her period was late. Shawn picked up a few tests on his way home from work and sure enough, she was pregnant. Although they hadn't planned on having another child so soon, they were beyond thrilled to be able to have another child naturally. Camila went into labor on her due date, which also happened to be Shawn's birthday. Most people probably wouldn't want the attention to be on anybody else on their birthday, but Shawn was more than happy to share his birthday with his son, Milo Peter.

When Hazel was 7, she began to show interest in the piano. Camila enjoyed teaching their daughter how to play so much that she decided she wanted to become a piano instructor. While Shawn was at work, children and teens from all over the city would come into their home for piano lessons from Camila.

For their 10th wedding anniversary, Shawn and Camila took their entire family to Bali—the same resort that Shawn had almost proposed to Camila at. They renewed their vows in the company of their three children and everything about it was magical and beautiful.

When the President of the company Shawn worked for retired, Shawn was offered the position and he accepted. The promotion meant that Shawn was being overwhelmed with work and was hardly ever home, which put an extreme strain on his and Camila's marriage. After one particularly heated argument, Camila broke down into tears in his arms. They spent the entire night sitting in their bedroom and talking through everything. Shawn promised to only work during normal work hours and to dedicate the time he wasn't working fully to spending time with his wife and kids. As always, he kept his promise.

When Hazel was 17, Camila found her sobbing in her bathroom. As soon as Camila saw the positive pregnancy test sitting on the counter, she knew why. After asking who the father was, Hazel admitted to her mother that she had been raped by a classmate after school. Both Camila and Shawn were very supportive and understanding. Camila shared with Hazel what she had gone through with Lucas and Hazel started going to weekly appointments with Dr. Harris. Hazel's rapist had just turned 18 and luckily he did end up in jail. She decided to keep the baby and with the help of her mom they started a non-profit organization that helped victims of rape and sexual assault get back on their feet. Hazel's son, Oliver Shawn, was born healthy & happy.

When Elsie was 19, she came out to her parents as bisexual by showing up to Thanksgiving dinner with her girlfriend, Abi. She considered sitting down and having a heart-to-heart with her parents like most kids did when they came out but she knew her parents and she knew they'd be accepting and loving, which they were. Abi was an incredible artist and the two of them ended up moving to New York, specifically Brooklyn, where Abi could pursue her passion for painting and Elsie could live out her dream of owning and operating a coffee shop that doubled as an art gallery.

From an early age, it was obvious that Milo was an incredibly smart kid. As he got older he took an interest in law and after a few years of hard work at law school and several won cases—he was considered one of the best lawyers in the city. One thing that set him apart from the rest of the lawyers in the city is that he would take any sexual assault case for free, something that made everyone in their family incredibly proud of him. One of his clients, a young blonde woman named Eden, instantly had him smitten. He knew that a relationship with one of his clients was inappropriate though, so after her case had been won he decided not to pursue things—despite how much he might've wanted to. About two years later, Milo and Eden ran into each other at the grocery store. She asked if he was free to meet for coffee and the rest is history.

Shawn eventually retired from his job so he could spend time enjoying life as a husband, father, and grandpa. After their kids had all moved out, Shawn and Camila decided their big, beautiful house was now far too big for just the two of them so they began looking for smaller houses in town. When they saw that the little brick house on Hazel Street was up for sale they couldn't resist and soon enough they were moving back in to the house they had called home so many years ago. Unfortunately the house wasn't in as good of shape as it had been when they lived there previously, so they spent their time fixing it up to restore it back to its previous beauty. Shawn re-poured the concrete walkway and each of his kids and grandkids, as well as he and Camila, put their initials in the wet cement. Their kids had surprised them with a house warming gift, a wooden sign with a lyric to one of their favorite songs painted across it.

"Every second with you, I want another."

THE END

A/N: Please check out my other stories, Boy Next Door & 16 Months!