[ EPILOGUE ]
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The tribe mourns for thirty days and nights.
Borders are closed to outside visitors, except a select few, and all non-essential businesses remain shut as per tribal law.
Black is worn by those closest to the deceased as a mark of sorrow, many paying their respects to the legacy of the fallen and following suite.
The deaths are played off to the unsuspecting eye as a house fire; with the Black property burning to the ground.
The official story is that the occupants had been sleeping and a young boy, Chris Seabolm, barely fourteen years old, had saw the flames and tried to alert the occupants and get them out. The smoke hazard because of the old building material of the structure had been too intense, and they'd all ultimately perished.
Injuries sustained by a group of local delinquents including the Clearwater siblings had by subsequence come upon the property long after the blaze had started and after the young boy had gone into the burning structure.
There was nothing that could be done.
The recreation centre event is remarked as coincidence, occurring at the same time as the tragic house fire, caused by a different turn of events all together. A group of young boys had been sighted toting guns and driving nosily around the Reservation, causing a mass evacuation of homes to safety. It was later discovered that the guns had been nothing but innocent toys, and no further charges were laid.
Dominic Hoquiam's death is ruled as an apparent suicide four days later.
The official report also accompanies a letter in a yellow envelope, detailing the resignation of Sheriff Charles James Swan from the Forks Police Department after twenty five years of dedicated service.
The unofficial story is known to only a few and between the hushed whispers, no one dares question the tragedy that had befallen so many.
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. ~ E ~ .
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"You sure I can't persuade you two to tag along?" Charlie asks as he loads his last cardboard box on to the tray of the red truck.
With the house packed and prepared, it almost feels as if it is the end of an era. With their mother gone, with Charlie leaving, with Bella in another country, the house is no longer the hub of their relationships to one another. It's no longer a home, just an empty house.
"It might be good for the baby, you know, a change in scenery."
Leah smiles softly as she rubs a warm hand over her belly. She wonders most days what it will eventually be like once her miracle baby is born. Will the child have their father's eyes, his smile? A knot forms low in her gut at just the thought. It's been almost seven months to the day. Seven hard, long months that have felt like the worst she's ever been through. Harder than losing both her father and mother.
But, like everything, there was light at the end of the tunnel; a tiny ray of light that she had to remember she was going to reach, even if it took her tooth and nail to get there. Having her family, not just Seth and Charlie, but Rachel, Paul, Embry, Charlotte and the rest of the pack, has been a comfort. Just by them being there, by watching them laugh again, fight and smile and cry, has helped through the hardest parts. The parts where sometimes she's suddenly breathless, where she feels him somewhere close, where she could swear he wasn't gone.
She knows it's crazy, but she does still feel him.
Late at night, in the early mornings; he's there, with her.
"We're good, Charlie. Plus, I think Jnr likes it here." Leah replies fondly to the old man as she feels a nudge against her palm.
It's faint, but there, just like him.
She knows Charlie has shared in a similar sadness, in loss, and knows that because of his retirement, something like this was coming. There was still so much life left in the man, she would have hated to think he would allow himself to waste away in a big old house all on his own.
"What about you, Seth? Can I convince you to tag along on the ultimate road trip?"
Seth chuckles beside her, laying a heavy arm over her shoulders. "Nah, Charlie, I'm gonna have to pass. You know I can't go anywhere without the boss. If she stays, so do I."
"Well, you'll visit though right? When the little nugget is born. It'll be my first 'public' grand kid guys, so it's really important I send all the boys at the PD the pictures. I reckon I've earned the right to gloat after everything."
A smile tugs at Leah's mouth. Charlie couldn't exactly sent his buddies pictures of August being that he looked almost her age, but the old man did have a small photo of them together on a fishing trip in his wallet.
"Of course. You know we will. Maybe we'll visit for Christmas?"
Charlie takes a moment to contemplate the offer. "Sure. Bella should be back from London by then. Art schools got her messed up nine ways from Sunday but she seems, dare I say, happy."
"I'm glad."
"Well, I better hit the road. Need to make use of the sunlight while I still have it. You look after yourselves you hear. I don't wanna hear nothing about nothing except for when that baby arrives. Jeez, look at you. Your mom would be so proud."
She accepts the hug he offers warmly.
"Be safe, Charlie."
"Don't forget to tell August he owes me a fishing trip. Where is that boy again? He always seems to be missing in action."
"His father took him on a trip. Spain this time I believe."
Charlie grumbles at the remembrance of Edward Cullen.
"Alright, well the offer stands whenever you want. You ever feel like hitting San Diego, you call me first. I uh... love you, guys."
"We love you too, old man. Now get outta here."
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Barcelona is an entirely different world; from the architecture to the food, the language to the people.
Gorgeous women flock, giggle and bat their lashes as they part to let the two of them through. Both men are in stark contrast to each other and yet they elude a likeness about them that even the human eye can detect. Maybe it's in the way they walk, the way they hold themselves or maybe it's in the way they smile back and nod politely, unabashedly acknowledging their presence is causing quite a stir.
It's Edward who speaks first, softly and in a whisper only his son's ears will hear.
"You'll get used to it. Eventually."
August flushes. He is aware of his physical attributes but has the suspicion that the upgrade of clothes courtesy of his newly acquired Aunt Alice is 'enhancing' the female attention. He can almost smell the pheromones in the air as he sweeps off the long coat and rests it over the chair of the corner cafe in the midst of Plaza Catalunya. He unbuttons the small beads on his cuff and rolls the sleeves to his elbows.
"I don't think I can ever get used to this." August tells his father as another gaggle of woman stroll past, their eyes devouring the two of them as if they are in the middle of a zoo.
"Have you spoken to Le - to your mother?" Edward asks.
August fiddles with the sugar in the centre of the table. "I have. She's... Ever since Jake, she's quieter, you know. But she's good. At least Uncle Seth says so."
Even with the commotion of the plaza around them, the conversation is intimate. He's not sure he should be telling his father about his mother, because no matter what Edward implied or incurred, he would drop everything in his life to run and save Leah. No matter the situation, even if it was to his own detriment. Some would find such blinding devotion a fairy-tale, but his mother did not. She kept her business from Edward for a reason, to allow him time, to forget her.
"And the baby?"
August nods. "Fine, I suppose. She still doesn't want to know the gender, but all the pack are betting on a boy."
"I see."
"They're already calling the kid Jake Jnr. I guess they just want to have a way not to forget, you know.""
Edward nods, though the edges of his eyes squint, just minutely.
"Was it this easy for... me?"
The question causes his father to stiffen uncomfortably. August has seen snippets, moments inside his mother's thoughts when she'd been caught unaware, but she'd never gone into detail about his own gestation.
"August - your mother and I, we didn't... it was complicated. From our relationship to your conception and birth. I - I wasn't as I am now. I was, for a better word, distasteful."
"Why?"
"You are unique, I know that. But there had been stories of children, hybrid children - and their births had been much more complicated than your own. But we had very little to go on. Your mother was a rock, true and sure it would all work out. I, on the other hand, was a mess. I made mistakes. Big ones. Ones that your mother had no right to forgive me for. But she did. And she gave me a choice."
"What kind of choice?" August asks, interested by the turn of events.
Edward carefully folds a napkin in his palm. "Now see, that's another story for another day."
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"How the hell am I supposed to have a birthday party when both of your asses are knocked up?" Rachel huffs as she sets down the plethora of shopping bags, including the prized bottle of whiskey she's managed to sneak out of the garage and away from Paul. "I can't exactly get drunk on my own."
"What about Kim and Emily?" Charlotte suggests with a smirk on her mouth.
Rachel makes a face and almost spits. "What about them?"
"If it's any consolation, I'm sorry."
"You bitch, you aren't sorry."
Charlotte laughs, "You're right, I'm not sorry."
In true dramatic fashion Rachel collapses between the two of them on the couch.
"She may not be sorry," Leah points out as Rachel continues to scowl. "But, at least we brought presents."
Rachel perks up. "You did? I mean, you didn't have to like I said-"
"Oh, shut up. You know if we would have turned up empty handed we would have never heard the end of it."
"Fine," the pouty woman concedes, "Gimme, gimme, gimme."
Pulling a few small bags from the side of the couch, Leah hands them to Rachel who has stars beaming in her eyes from the fluffy crate paper decorating them.
"I hope our children aren't as demanding as this one," Charlotte comments as they both watch Rachel Black tear open the wrappers.
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Leah wakes before the sun rises.
She makes her way down the stairs as not to wake her brother and struggles to slip on her sneakers. The dried mud around them and on the laces show her just how much of a habit her early morning adventures have become. She ties her hair up with a band and pulls on a rain jacket before she steps out of the front door.
The yard is dark and the world is absent still of morning rays and the chatter of birds.
She ventures deep into the forest, following the scent of the ocean. Even though it's cold, her skin does not prickle, though the tip of her nose does redden. The breeze of the ocean cuts likes waves as she nears her destination, the sparseness of fauna increasing around her.
As she walks she thinks about the day ahead.
She still has so many things to organise before the birth of their child, still so many things she wants to complete and finish. Seth, as always, has been a godsend, August, another pillar, and Charlotte, a beautiful friend who was sharing in the experience of pregnancy alongside her.
She counts on the pack, and the newly replaced tribal council consisting of a Black, a Clearwater, a Uley and a Raven, including herself.
Rachel, the realist. Seth, the diplomat. Sam, the ethical and Charlotte, the advocate.
The crash of the ocean gives her goose bumps in a good way and she stops to inhale a large gulp of the fresh salty air.
Like most mornings, she finds the familiar log and eases herself down onto it. Her hair, shorter now, whips around her face, cuffing her jaw. It feels good here, in the silence of the break in morning. It feels like he's here, even though she's alone. A kick in the peak of her bump makes her smile, even though her lashes flutter with thick emotion.
She rubs over the area, warm hands against the woollen sweater.
The light on the horizon slowly changes, from black, to grey, before the sun is threatening to peak and explode, ready to give the world the morning in all its glorious entirety.
Closing her eyes she allows herself the freedom to feel. To open up the darkest parts of her memories, the best parts, and even the worst.
One day she hopes to remember him without the harsh pull of emotions that they now inflict. She hopes that one day, when someone mentions Jacob, she won't have to remind herself to breathe, to remind herself that they're not doing it to elicit pain, but rather, celebrate what once was.
But in these moments, before the sun rises, reminding her another day would soon be here, another day without him, she needs this place to remember. Away from prying eyes and away from the people who cared so much she could barely move without them worrying. Away from the concerned glances, from the hands that continued to hold her up, and not let her fall or fail.
Away from everything... and back to him.
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. ~ E ~ .
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"What are you saying?" he growls out, his thick brows angling down in a way that makes her almost believe he would ever care about anyone other than Isabella Swan.
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"Shut up, Leah," Jacob snaps, causing her smile to widen.
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"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Black."
"I do know, Leah. That's the problem."
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"It's your father you should worry about. The old man's been grumbling all morning about disrespectful this, little shit that. I think he might even be pulling his belt off his waist as we speak."
"Don't joke with me, Lee. That belt hurts like nobody's business."
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"I know you stayed with me, Leah. You stayed the night even when Bella left." He's talking much too softly and she doesn't like it one bit. It feels intimidating and intimate. "Sam was pissed that that I got hurt, pissed that you could have got hurt."
"So what, Jacob. You brought me out here to dredge up old memories about Sam?"
"Not quite." He holds out his hand. "Take my hand."
"What the fuck-"
"Take it, Leah. You'll see why."
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She doesn't know what makes him throw disregard to the wind. She doesn't know why she can only think within the moment they are in.
As the suns rises behind them, casting rays of gold and heat, he steps forward, cups her face, and slants his mouth over hers.
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She doesn't give him a chance to speak as she pulls her fist back and slams into his jaw. His head snaps back but his body doesn't move. He angles his face back to hers, eyes pleading. When she tries to hit him again he grasps her wrists in his hands. She fights against him but she knows he is stronger than she is, he always has been.
"Leah- I'll take one, but not another," he growls as he tries to calm her.
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Leah follows her line of sight. A tall muscular figure stands a few hundred meters down the beach. His cargo pants are pulled up to his knees and his checked red and black button up shirt is rolled up to his forearms. He's toeing the line between sand and water with his bare feet, his gaze set on the waves.
"Like, Jacob?" Leah laughs in surprise. "Please, Charlotte. Jacob Black is not my type."
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She can't help but snap in the girl's direction. "If you're here to torture Jacob some more - feel free to leave."
She continues stomping away from the group, growling back at Jacob when she hears his little snide comment. It hurts but not as much as she can hurt him with her thoughts once they phase again.
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"I know you care," he breathes softly. "Seth will need you now, more than ever."
She stills at his words.
"And I'll be here for him as well. He's a good kid."
She laughs sadly. They were all kids. Kids stuck in a never ending, horrifying loop of Supernatural bullshit. Tilting her head up, she closes her eyes and lets the darkness and moonlight rain down on her. The night is alive, more alive than her father will ever be.
He hovers for a moment longer until she hears his sneakers shuffle and his footsteps disappear.
She looks to the stars in search of an answer to why she exists in this life.
And when the stars don't answer, she breaks another lawn chair in anger.
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"How can you be Alpha if you have no pack? Wolves run in packs for a god damn reason, Jacob," the black wolf growls.
The russet wolf seems to be answering Sam but by his posture he is getting more agitated by the minute. His claws are digging into the soil, his chest puffing as he snorts out hot air from his warm snout.
The motion is not lost on her when Jacob's wolf eyes flick to her.
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"Come on, Leah. One step at a time," he explains as he tugs, willing her feet to move.
She does. One foot, then the other.
Her hand flexes inside his, an incredible warmth of energy running through her palm all the way up to her elbow. He's unusually warm, warmer than she, any given day of the week.
When they are mere meters away Sam's face turns to them. He's still smiling but once his eyes land on their joined hands he frowns, the smile slipping away.
They don't say anything to one another because there's nothing to say. Jacob simply keeps her moving forward, guiding her past her pain.
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He laughs sadly. "Sam says it's about being able to breed a stronger lineage of wolves. I don't believe that shit for a second. If that was the case, one of us would have imprinted on you. Your bloodline is just as strong as mine. And you could have just as easily been Alpha as I could have."
Leah is surprised at her Alpha's words.
"All I'm saying is that it's bullshit." He clears his throat. "I know it's not Quil's fault. But I wish he could have chosen for himself. Chosen his own happy ending."
She reaches out to touch his shoulder, fingers tingling in response to the smooth flesh under her fingertips. Leah doesn't say anything because she doesn't have to. It wasn't anything near an imprint, but to her surprise, Jacob Black was exactly what she had needed him to be. He had given her a choice and became her temporary sun, and for as long as she could, she would relish in that fact.
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"Wow," she remarks as she rounds the corner, collected magazines from the living room almost spilling from her hands.
Jacob's grins at her as he ties up his boots, the dinning chair groaning under his weight. "I thought you were impenetrable to my dashing demeanour and striking good looks?"
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Where's your boyfriend?" he mutters, still pissed she dumped him for a mystery guy at the diner.
Leah looks up and can't help but stare at her Alpha. His back is turned to her as he rummages through his duffel bag. Droplets of water sear down his back dripping from his wet hair, trailing moist lines over his russet skin before collecting at the towel on his waist. When he turns she knows she's in trouble. But it's not the dark glare he gives her but rather the way his abdomen ripples over his torso. Her eyes follow the lines that run down his stomach and narrow with his hips. Below his belly button is fine trail of hair which dips under the white towel leading to-
"Leah?"
Her head shoots up and she stares at him, blinking away her disturbing thoughts. "What?"
"I said the shower is free."
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"Do you want to be together?" he asks softly.
She's jarred by the question, and can't answer him. Did he mean tonight? Did he mean forever? Of course, she was lonely, but he was with Bella. He loved Bella. He didn't love her.
"Leah?"
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"I'm going to ruin you," she breathes softly, wanting him to understand.
"You won't. I know that because I trust you not to. You're going to save me, Leah. My heart is, and always has been, with you."
As his words sink inside her, she crumbles.
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"Let go, damn it. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
Her fingers dig so deep in the wall behind his head, she feels the plaster crumble under her palms when he sucks on her pulse point.
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Paul rolls his eyes. "Look. I'm the last person who believes in fate and destiny and all that shit. But - you guys might just be the exception."
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She watches as he leans down, before closing her eyes to accept his kiss. His mouth is warm and eerily familiar, causing her body to react and arch into his. He smiles widely against her lips as they kiss slowly, drawing out the soft sounds in the silence of the room.
Everything about the Alpha scares her, about the notion of an Alpha Pair, about their destiny, of who they should become - but not this. This comfort, this ease he eludes, this passion that awakens the dormant part of her; its all Jacob.
Unequivocally.
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"I'm sorry about turning your life upside down." Jacob begins. "But I'm not sorry about us. Nothing has ever felt more right than it does with you."
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"Hey," Jacob whispers. "Deep down, you're only human, Lee. All of us make mistakes. Some more than others," the frown falls over his face again, "but, that doesn't make us bad people. We were all thrown in head first. Between the heightened senses and the anger, I'm surprised more of us aren't dead. But you know what, sometimes it's not about the end, but about the journey. We've all been through so much, maybe it's time to just - take the good as it comes."
Her eyes flick back to his, searching within the abyss of his black eyes which mimic the stars and heavens above them.
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"Hey, Jake." she whispers, gaining his attention back. Her voice sounds so small in the room, almost as if it were travelling on the wind.
"Hmm?"
"I love you too."
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She glances at Jacob who shakes his head, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to pull her to him. Tiny specks of heat prickle between their palms, causing the Alpha Male to calm slightly. His nose brushes against her cheek in wolfy affection.
"No. Nothing yet." He replies in a murmur, his hand cupping her neck and holding her to him. "Are you hurt?"
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Leah takes in all their thoughts, all their memories. She fights hard to keep down the emotions, to keep them all in check. Conscious threads of information float through her mind, from Sam, from Paul, from Seth, from all the wolves. As Alpha, she works hard to push what she can down, hiding it from the others. Like she is reaching out a grasping bubbles, she sorts them and pushes them back.
'Jake - once you're finished, Jared and Quil need you,' she yells through the link. 'Demetri needs to die. There's no other choice. We take him out; we win.'
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"You were right, you know. We were always meant to be. You have no idea how hard loving you was, but nothing will ever be as hard as letting you go. So - I've decided I'm not going to. Because I'm too stubborn to admit that you're gone. You hear me, Black, I'm not letting you go."
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"This right here," he lays his hand over her chest, "is forever, Leah."
He whispers against her skin, raising the fine hairs on her arms. "From this life... to the next."
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. ~ E ~ .
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Leah's eyelashes flutter as Embry nears; the blue bundle sitting proudly in the crook of the new fathers arm.
It's a day she knows Embry never thought he'd see. But the day is here, albeit a month earlier than expected. She's both relieved and annoyed that Charlotte had gone into labour before her, even though she and Embry had been due the week after. Leah knows her mother would put it down to karma. She herself had been an impatient child, and now she was getting a child who had no real qualms about escaping their hidden world inside the safety of her stomach.
"With your permission, we'd like to name him Jacob. Jacob Call."
Emotions pinch at the edge of her eyes as she nods happily in agreement. "I'm pretty sure he'd love that. How's Char?"
"She's great. Resting."
"That's good."
"You know, none of us would be here without him. It's only right. He was... is my best friend. Always. Why don't you hold him?"
"Embry," Leah stutters as she accepts the child, the weight minuscule in her arms as she manoeuvres the bundle around her stomach.
The wolf beside her smiles gently, stroking his huge palm over Leah's crown in affection. He pulls her closer, kissing her temple, before gazing lovingly down at his son in her arms. He's a tiny thing and yet they both know how hard the child has fought to be here, how hard they had all fought for him and every child yet to come.
"Em. He - he's -"
"I know. Kid even looks like him. Rachel thinks so too. I think he'll do his name proud." Embry says softly, a fathers pride lacing his voice with certainty.
Pulling the infant close she gently runs her fingertip over his forehead and cheek, before she swaddles him and pulls him to her chest.
When she kisses the child's head she scents him, not only as a protector, but as a wolf, Alpha of the pack.
She does all she can not to sob and blubber, but the faint scent of sunshine and pine lingers over him. It's the same scent she has missed for months, the same scent she has always associated with the man no longer held to this realm.
As she whispers down to the child, his eyelashes flutter open, revealing his dark brown eyes.
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Billie Susan Black arrives four weeks later with a stuttered breath and a high pitched squeal of anger letting all those know she is, in fact, a girl and not a boy as the pack had hoped.
But she's perfect in every way with dark hair, pretty shell shaped ears and narrowed eyes.
"You did it, Leah. Jesus. You were amazing."
Rachel is once again the attending, having delivered Charlotte's child only weeks earlier. She runs a hand over Leah's hair, sweat and tears glimmering on both their skin.
Leah blinks through the mess of tears as Rachel continues pushing the hair from her face. The cries of the child on her chest remind her not only of everything the past has left behind, but everything the future was yet to bring. She runs her own hand over the child's crown gently, feeling the warmth and love atop her chest as her baby girl cries. She smells brand new, full of life, of potential, of happiness.
Of all the things in the world, this child was a beacon of hope, a beacon of love found and love lost.
Leah feels Jacob by her side, feels his presence so close, but the tears clouding her eyes don't allow her to see him. So she remembers him instead by closing her eyes. Remembers his furrowed brow, his hand upon her cheek, remembers the width of his chest as she lay against him in the middle of the night.
Her chest constricts with hot pain and breathless happiness and she can't help but let out a heart broken laugh.
Their child was here. And that was the best she could hope for.
"August and Seth will want to visit. I'll tell them to give us a moment to get cleaned up. Alright?"
Leah nods at her sister in law, uncertainty swimming in her large brown eyes as she focuses on the strength of the woman in front of her.
Laying a hand over hers, Rachel smiles. "I'm proud of you, Lee. He would be so proud of you. She's beautiful and safe. You did that for him... and he did what he had to do... for the both of you."
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