Epilogue

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My dear friends. I never thought when I began this journey and started writing this story that I could ever write this much, but when I discovered that this story contains 115,838 words, give or take a few for titles and notes to you guys, I felt a great sense of accomplishment, because the book Twilight contains 130,000 words. But that doesn't compare to the sense of fulfilment and peace that I have, knowing that it was possible to write a story in which Jake and Bella's love grew into the strongest and most complete form of love I've ever seen. Thank you again for reading and I hope this clears up some of the questions you might have had at the end of the story. I'm also sort of breaking a rule here because I wanted this to be from Jake's POV, not from mine.

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The day I brought Bella home from the hospital, was like the day we started our life together over again. I always think, in the back of my mind that I wish I'd been there, maybe I could have prevented the accident, maybe I could have kept her from being hurt, but then I realize that I can't change that now, and who knows, maybe those turn of events were meant to be, because if it hadn't occurred the way it did, I would never have heard her speak the most wonderful words of her love with her own lips, when she told Edward how much she loved me. Those words will be forever branded upon my heart.

As the days progressed, following her return home, she and I grew even closer than before. She rediscovered me in the most beautiful ways, through every new touch, every gentle kiss, a simple walk hand in hand on the beach, or just holding hands in front of the fireplace that she loved and cherished because I had made it for her. And within the next couple of months, she had regained all of her memories, and put the bad ones away in the depths of her mind.

Winter soon settled over La Push and we spent or first Christmas together as husband and wife. The holiday itself was nice, presents, dinners with family, phone calls from loved ones, but the present that was so special to me, was opening my eyes on Christmas morning, finding my beautiful Bella curled up asleep in my arms. It was funny how on Christmas Eve, she had insisted that we sleep by the fireplace, wrapped in blankets on the floor, under the Christmas tree. But it was something I'll never forget, because I couldn't have asked for a better present, then her in my arms.

Things were changing around Forks and La Push in others' lives too. Charlie surprised Bella exactly six months after her stay in the hospital by telling her he'd asked Sue to marry him. Bella couldn't have been happier because she wasn't only gaining a mom, but a brother and sister as well. Seth hugged her like a maniac picking her up and swirling her around screaming, "I've finally got my little sis," and Bella just beamed. She and Seth had always been close, but the news synched the deal as far as Seth was concerned.

Bella and Leah had hugged for a long time when they heard the news and I knew Bella was crying, but I thought for a moment that I saw tears in Leah's dark eyes too. I knew they were happy tears, after all they had grown so close the past couple of years, that it was almost second nature for Bella to call her sister. The transition was completely natural for them all.

Charlie and Sue were married in the little chapel on the reservation where Sam and Emily got married. It was a joyous occasion, but everyone was thrilled when Robert got down on one knee right there at the reception and proposed to Leah.

It was so touching, but not as humbling as seeing Leah, as strong as we all know she is, as she crumbled and fell into his arms weeping "yes" over and over. Robert simply picked her up in his arms, and held her until he could help her regain her composure. But she didn't care. For once in her life, she didn't care what everyone thought of her mini breakdown, because with it came the promise of a lifetime of happiness.

I'll never forget the look on the rest of the pack's faces when Sam came over and placed his hand on Robert's shoulder, after Leah had calmed down. We were all there in two seconds, not knowing exactly what to expect. I had told the rest of the pack a long time ago how Sam had reacted when Leah first brought Robert to La Push and we didn't want any trouble, not there, not then.

Sam just looked at us all and silently ordered us to stand down, which we did, as he and Robert went outside to talk privately. We all listened, but couldn't hear any of the conversation because of the other noise at the reception, but when they came back in, Robert was smiling like he'd won the lottery, so we assumed it had gone well.

A few days later, at one of our Friday night get together dinner's for the pack at our house, I pulled Robert aside and asked him what Sam had said. He just smiled and told me that Sam had said he was a lucky man to win the heart of Leah Clearwater and that he had better not ever hurt her, or he would come looking for him himself. That she had been hurt enough for one lifetime and deserved to live the rest of her life smiling.

It made me feel better to know that somewhere, deep down, Sam still cared in a way for Leah even if the universe had taken him down a path to a different destiny. But Robert was cool with it, and even felt a little smug that he had gotten a pep talk from Sam himself about her. I asked him if he had told Leah what was said, but he said no, that he had tried to tell her, but she said she didn't want to know. She told Robert that she loved him and that was what she lived for now.

Robert and Leah's wedding was beautiful. They had it on the beach right where Bella and I had gotten married, saying it was fitting and that it seemed like a sign of good luck, so they wanted in on it. Leah was a most lovely bride, and as she said her vows, holding Robert's hand, I felt like she let her old, hardened self, lay down right there on the beach, so that it could be swept away with the tide. She'd have no more need for that shell she had created, and her smile showed her happiness.

She and Robert bought a small house between La Push and Forks. She said she liked it there because she was close enough to home, yet far enough away to feel as though she had made a new start. They finished college and Robert took a job with a newspaper in Seattle and Leah went back to work part time at the little store on the reservation, just to have something to occupy her time.

She had never told Robert about the wolf and after she and Robert were married, she came to me and Bella and told us that she had decided the moment she became Robert's wife, to close that chapter of her life. She was also hoping that if she stopped phasing, she might be able to have children.

It was never hard for her to stop, unlike the rest of us. It was truly like she left the wolf on the beach the day of her wedding too. She said she no longer had anger inside of her that often drove her to phase, and that all she felt now was serenity. I guess her theory was correct, because three months after the wedding, she found out that she was pregnant. Imagine that, Leah, our fierce wolf warrior, a mother. But they were ecstatic.

Embry was the next one to tell us he was getting married. We didn't even know he was that serious with the young lady he had been dating for more than eight months, but when he brought Terrain over for the Friday night pack dinner at our house, I could see it in his eyes how much he loved her. She was cut from the same mold as Embry. They were both reserved and thoughtful, and looking at them I couldn't help but wonder who was the luckiest, him or her. They were married one month later.

A few weeks after that we learned that Quil had applied to the police academy in Seattle, so he would be leaving for three months, only coming home on the weekends, while he underwent his training, but he was excited and ready to go. We were all happy for him, but I had a long talk with him about overstepping his boundaries and remembering to never take his authority too far. He also would have to work on not phasing while he was there, but he said he could handle it, and that he would let the wolf run free on the weekends.

When he came back at the end of the three months, we were all so proud of him as he showed us his certificates and awards. He went for an interview with Charlie, the week after he graduated, and of course Charlie hired him on the spot.

It wasn't until after he was issued his uniform and he stopped by the house all decked out before going on duty for the first time that I thought to myself that he was in it for the ladies to see him a uniform. Of course, when I confronted him with my suspicions, he just laughed and said I had no idea what I was talking about.

Sam was the next member in the pack to stop phasing. He told me that he wanted to work on stopping and being able to control his emotions long before he and Emily started a family. He went to work for a fishing operation right off the coast, and loved the freedom he felt while on the water, he also liked that he was home every night and had weekends off.

That put me as the Alpha of the pack. I didn't mind and actually everything seemed to come naturally. We hadn't had any trouble from vampires since the incident with Bella, but I still couldn't say the name of her attacker without beginning to tremble all over. So we didn't talk about it much.

My sister Rachael, finally came home for a visit, after finishing college while she was in between jobs, and on that fateful visit, she happened to cross paths with Paul, who of all peopled, imprinted on her.

That moment, that one moment in time, changed her life and the plans she had been making forever, and she moved back to La Push, so she and Paul could get married. They only officially dated for three months, but she said she couldn't fight it, so she was ready to embrace her life new life back home where she belonged with the man she loved and adored. I was so lucky to have Paul as a new brother-in-law.

It was strange how only a few of them imprinted, but Jared was the next in the pack to find his imprint and it happened to be a young woman by the name of Kim who had lived her all her life, but who had moved away for a few years to live with her grandmother up north while she was sick. After her grandmother died, Kim came back here and fell head over heals for Jared, with a little help of course.

By this time, Bella and I, after much hard work, were finally graduating from college. I had gotten my associates degree in business, which helped me in innovating the garage and brining it up to date. I was able to set up a program for automatic shipment of parts that I needed on a regular basis, so that they came right to the garage by overnight mail, and as things started to pickup and I found myself busier than ever, I approached Embry about coming on board as a partner.

He was thrilled and said he couldn't believe he'd never thought of it before. He had been working with Sam, but decided that he liked having his feet on terra firma and really wanted to give up the open sea gig. So we made it official, and Embry bought into the business, and it took both of us working eight to five and sometimes later, to keep the cars moving. When we expanded, peopled would drive from as far away as Seattle to have their vehicles worked on. A reputation is everything when it comes to working with your hands.

And that brings us back to Bella. She had continued to work at the library in Forks, while she finished college. The week she graduated, Mrs. Smith, the head librarian, informed her that she had been waiting for Bella to graduate so she could retire. She told her with tears in her eyes that she wouldn't trust her beloved books to just anyone, and Bella was thrilled and somewhat honored that she was recommending Bella for the head librarian position.

Bella was chosen and she took over the library with great pride. She fit right in there, and loved each and ever day that she went to work. She felt at home surrounded by the likes of Bronte, Shakespear, Austen, Browning, Frost, Byron, Elliot, Rossetti, and Myers, and sometimes she would bring a book home and read the sweetest passages to me while we lay in bed at night. She said she saved all the lovely words for me, but I didn't care who wrote what, as long as she was beside me every night.

Our life was good, and we were perfect together, or so I thought, until our third wedding anniversary, when I got home and found the house dark, the sun was just about to sit, and there was no sign of Bella anywhere. Then I found a note, folded up neatly on the kitchen counter, underneath a single red rose. The note was in Bella's handwriting and it read only two words the beach.

I raced out the door and down to the beach as fast as I could, my instinct was to sniff the air for danger, and my eyes darted around peering into the shadows, but I came to a screeching halt as I rounded that old familiar corner to the beach, when I saw her sitting on the sand, on a big white blanket with a picnic dinner spread out for us to share right there on the beach.

I ran to her and dropped down on my knees, taking her hands in mine and kissing them gently.

"Bella, you had me so worried. Why are you down here all alone?" I had asked.

She smiled at me and I noticed an unusual look in her eyes, as she whispered, "but I'm not alone, Jake," she said, and I immediately started scanning the beach looking for someone else, but she drew my attention back to her, as she continued, "I have some wonderful news. Will you walk with me to our special place on the beach?"

I had no idea what was going on, my mind was still racing, and heart pounding, but I did as she asked and pulled her from the blanket, as we kicked our shoes off and walked down the beach to the old drift wood tree, bleached even whiter from the years of sun, sand, and salt, and I began to worry. But she turned to me as soon as we were seated amongst the smooth branches of our old friend and began to speak.

"Jake, look, it's our favorite time of day."

We watched as the sun began to slowly dip below the horizon, and there in the after glow, she spoke again, "I've always thought that my life with you was complete. We've shared enough love to last three life times and I couldn't ask for anything more. But apparently, Someone above, has a different plan for us."

She put her arms around me and lay her head on my chest, and that's when I heard it, even above the sound of the waves gently crashing on the shore, the sound of our baby's heartbeat for the first time. I can't describe to you the feeling that washed over me. I was filled with joy, and wonder, and a sense of utter completeness at the thought of our love growing inside of her.

"Oh Bells. We're going to have a baby. I'm going to be a daddy," I had said.

"Yes Jake. We're having a baby. Thank you for loving me so much," she sighed, as I looked deep into her dark brown eyes.

"Bella Black, I love you more than the grains of sand on this beach or all the stars up in the heavens, and I know now that life just doesn't get any better than this."

"Oh but it will. When you hold your baby for the first time, when we hold it for the first time together."

And she was right. About eight months later, when that tiny little baby girl was placed in our arms, we held her both at the same time, and I looked down into her eyes and they were a mirror of mine and Bella's, it was like coming home for the first time. We were truly complete now, and the love that Bella and I had for each other had grown, and grown, until it spilled over and we were now loving out little girl.

We had talked about names, but when it came time to tell the nurse what our baby's name was, Bella surprised me when she spoke up in a tired voice and said, "Tayen, her name should be Tayen."

I looked at her and then at the baby, and back at Bella again, asking her if she was sure. Then I told the nurse our baby's name would be Tayen Marie Black. Bella smiled at me, and I know it was the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen on her lovely face, even though she was tired and very weak, she took my breath away.

I leaned down and whispered in her ear, with the baby nestled between us, "what made you decide on that name? Do you even know what it means?" as I kissed her on the temple.

"It means new moon, and I thought it fit her perfectly," was all she said, as she rested her head against the baby.

As I looked down at her, I knew she was right, and so we made room in our hearts even more than before she was born, for our little Tayen. I took her in my arms, and let Bella sleep, and as I rocked my baby in my arms for the first time. I began to hum the Quileute Lullaby my mom sang to me when I was a little boy, and she fell asleep against my chest, and I knew that with my Bella and my Tayen sleeping soundly in the room that night, that my life couldn't get any better than this, it was complete, we were complete, and that is how is should be.

Notes

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As promised, I'm about to post the first chapters of two new stories. One is titled The Wolf Within, and it takes you on a slightly AU journey, but you have to keep an open mind throughout the first chapter, otherwise it might drive you crazy.

The second is titled Finding The Light, and we have to start off pretty much in cannon at the beginning, and yes that means a small amount of Edward in the first chapter, but it has to be to the story can develop toward Jake. I really wanted to write this story because it always bothered me that Bella used Jake in the beginning to get her Edward rush, if you will. I wanted a story where she chose to go to Jake for Jake, nothing more. I also wanted her relationship to develop from friendship to something more rather quickly, then continue to grow. I hope you enjoy it. And again, thank you all for your comments and for reading.