A/N: Voila! Here's the last chapter of This is Our Life! Like all of my last chapters, it's always bittersweet to finish a piece. On one hand, I'm relieved that it all got done but it's sad because I really enjoyed creating my own JoLu world with making their memories and creating their family (which I totally fell in love with) But mostly, I'm just glad that you all really responded well to it. My new long series is coming soon! I know I've said this numerous times but you can trust me when I say that it's actually coming because it really is :) Happy reading and don't forget to leave a comment!
What a Wonderful World
Both Johnny and Lulu used to detest the holiday season with all of its cheer and hope. Having their respective upbringings never reinforced the spirit of the holidays inside of either of them. Both of their mothers had loved Thanksgiving and Christmas but the love for the holidays disappeared when they disappeared from their children's lives.
"Grandma! Grandpa!"
But now it was their favorite time of the year.
"Eden! Oh my god, you've gotten so big!" Johnny cried as the young girl launched herself into her grandfather's still strong and willing arms.
Ava laughed as she carried what looked like three pie boxes towards the door of the house and Gavin was right behind her with a designer diaper bag slung over his shoulder and their six month old son, Harper Malcolm Spinelli, in his arms. Lulu went to her daughter and relieved her of two of the pie boxes.
"Come on… we've all been waiting for you…" Lulu chuckled.
"Oh! Regan and Jake beat us here?" Ava asked as they walked into the house.
"Auntie Regan!" Eden chirped.
The little girl wriggled out of her grandfather's arms and immediately went to her aunt, who caught her enthusiastically and swung her around. Harper let out a sharp happy cry and reached out to be held by his aunt like his older sister. Jake, who had completely embraced his role as an uncle, immediately lifted Eden into his arms while Gavin passed the little boy over to Regan.
"So the baby-making machine has finally arrived…" Regan joked as she kissed her sister's cheek.
"Ha! Well, you're well on your way too… where's Sadie?" Ava asked, referring to Regan and Jake's one year old daughter.
"She's terrorizing Chris and Ivy in the living room…" Johnny laughed.
Sure enough, Christian came in, holding Sadie Elizabeth Zacchara-Morgan and wincing because the little girl was pulling his hair and laughing exuberantly. Ivy followed behind him, laughing alongside the small girl at the expense of her boyfriend. Ava took the rambunctious little girl from her brother's arms and began making silly baby noises that made her laugh.
"Where are Maxie and Spinelli? They should've been here by now…" Lulu said, looking down at her watch.
"Oh, mom and dad said that they were going to stop by Patrick and Robin's before coming over for dinner…" Gavin said.
The group of them all made their way into the dining room where an elaborate Thanksgiving spread was laid out, complete with a giant turkey, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, rolls and plenty of gravy. The girls sat and watched as the men attempted to assemble two high-chairs for Harper and Sadie so that they could sit beside their parents. Suddenly, they heard a loud knock on the door.
"Hi! Sorry we're late! But we brought the wine!"
Maxie, still impeccably stylish for her age, breezed through the door effervescently with Spinelli trailing along behind her. Johnny took the case of wine that Spinelli was holding and brought it into the dining room. Harper kicked his chubby little legs in excitement upon seeing his other set of grandparents stroll into the room.
"A thousand apologies from the Jackal and Maximista for our tardiness… the traffic was most gruesome on I-95…" Spinelli explained as he gave Harper a kiss on the top of his tuft of brown hair.
"That's alright… now that you're here, we can now say grace and start eating…" Lulu said, taking both Maxie's and Spinelli's coats.
Everyone gathered around the table and joined hands. Spinelli did the honors by saying grace and as soon as he was done with the blessing, everyone made a mad dash for the food on the table. As they took in the sight of their family at the table, Johnny and Lulu's hands reached for each other, locking fingers. Never in a million years when they found each other would either of them would've thought that they would be surrounded by such a huge family. However, now that it was a reality, neither of them could've imagined it any other way.
"So, Eden… why don't you tell your Aunt Regan about your dance class?" Ava asked.
"Ooh! Yes! I'm taking a ballet class just like you, Auntie Regan!" Eden cried.
"Ah, so we might have another prima ballerina in our midst?" Jake asked as he put an arm around his wife's chair.
"I wanted to get those shoes like you have… the ones where you can go on your tippy-toes but mommy says that I can't get them until I'm older and take more classes…" Eden pouted and Regan laughed.
"And your mommy is right… when you're older and after you take tons and tons of classes, then you can get pointe shoes." Regan explained but she was almost interrupted by the sound of Christian clinking his fork on his wine glass.
"Everybody? I have an announcement to make…" Christian proclaimed and the entire table became quiet.
"What's the big news, Chris?" Regan asked, eyebrow raised, as if she knew what was about to happen.
"Last week, Ivy made me the luckiest man in the world by agreeing to become my wife… we're getting married…" He said, never taking his eyes off his fiancée's ecstatic face.
Ava and Maxie practically squealed in delight at Christian's news. Both Johnny and Lulu immediately went to hug their son while the girls inspected the ring that Christian had given to Ivy. It was their Grandmother Laura's ring that she had left to Lulu to give to Christian when he decided to propose.
"Are you sure? I mean, are you absolutely sure that you want to get married so soon, Christian? You're not even out of college yet…" Lulu asked, letting her motherly concern briefly show despite her happiness that her son was so happy.
"I've never been so sure of anything in my life, mom. I know that what I have with Ivy is the real thing… like you and dad." Christian said.
Lulu embraced her son lovingly and Johnny shook Christian's hand, congratulating him on his engagement. After receiving his parents' blessing, Christian returned to his chair, put his arm around Ivy, who was beaming ear to ear, and pressed his lips to hers softly. Ivy whispered something into his ear and Christian immediately smiled. Regan and Ava laughed as Sadie smushed some stuffing into Jake's face. Gavin was babbling in baby-talk to Harper while Eden was engrossed in Maxie and Spinelli's stories about traveling to Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Athens.
This was their family.
This was their life.
"Three beautiful kids… three equally beautiful grandchildren, with more on the way at the rate that Ava's going and then with Christian getting married this year…" Lulu whispered as she curled against Johnny on their couch.
"And I think that Regan's good for at least one more…" Johnny added in.
The extended family had dissipated from the Zacchara house. Ava, Gavin and the children had left with Maxie and Spinelli because they were staying in the palatial estate that Maxie had commissioned nearby about two years ago, Regan, Jake and Sadie had a deluxe suite, thanks to Carly's generosity, at the MetroCourt and Ivy and Christian were spending the remainder of the holiday at the Quartermaine mansion, most likely to make up for the fact that the newest Quartermaine prodigy was not dining with the illustrious family this year.
"We've had such a great life, Johnny…" she sighed.
"I know…" he said, curling a piece of her hair around her ear.
"You know… I've been thinking… since Christian has decided to stay abroad for the summer before senior year, it's really just us in this big house…" she said.
"Yeah, so?" he asked.
"Maybe we should be like Nikolas and Claudia and sell this house and move to Europe… you even said that you wanted to buy that French chateau that we stayed in all those years ago… we could even move into the villa that your family owns in Milan… we always have fun when we're at the villa…" she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Christian took his first steps over there by the fireplace, Ava threw up on that chair over there after we came back from our first outing to Six Flags and Regan broke her ankle trying to jump down the stairs. We built this house together… this house is our life… we—we can't sell it… it's too precious…" he said, pointing out to every single spot that held a memory, and Lulu smiled.
"Ok… we won't sell this place…" she chuckled.
"So, are you ready for another fifty years with me in this house?" he asked, letting a grin spread across his face.
Lulu held Johnny's face in her hands and she smoothed her fingertips over his features, studying them carefully. His face still had the boyish charm that it always had but still reflected his mature age. His hair was flecked with grey, along with his eyebrows, making him look like a dashing and debonair version of his more youthful self. His arms enveloped her and brought her in close as they always did. They had been through hell and back and seen the worst and the best of each other. He had given her three perfect children, a beautiful home and a lifetime of wonderful memories. If allowed, she would live a thousand years to be with Johnny and to have just a fraction of the happiness that he had given her over these years. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.
"Always…" she whispered.
THE END