Hey guys!

So I've had several people mention how sad they are that the story is over, BUT here's the thing...it's not quite done. I will go ahead and apologize for the hiatus in the story. I am actually an RN in the real world—no, Iris is not based off my life at all haha—and due to current circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been VERY busy. Just wanted to let you guys know that I will update when I can, and I'll try to pick up the pace a bit. Stay healthy, stay in, and wash your hands! Thanks for your continued loyalty and patience! Here's a little teaser!

Happy Reading!

Ch. 76 Onwards

"No!"

"Be reasonable, Alice."

"No! I won't let you do this. I leave for a week, and everything is different. You hid this from me!"

"We didn't hide it. You can't see Thea, and since she will be with us, you couldn't see us going. I promise there was no strategy to keep you out. We were just letting you focus on your sister while you were away..." Edward reasoned.

"I don't like it." Alice snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry, Alice, but it's time. We won't be away forever. It's just a few years, and of course you can always visit—No, a visit is meant to be temporary!" Edward sighed as he, obviously, read the direction of his sister's thoughts.

I could hear Edward and Alice inside arguing about our planned departure from where I stood beneath the ferns outside on the patio. We had made the difficult decision to branch out on our own for a time, just Edward, Thea, and me. Big stuff.

I, however, decided to skip that conversation—with Alice at least. But me bowing out of talking to her meant that I got assigned to telling Rosalie...oh joy...she would probably decapitate me herself if it meant that she got to stay with Thea. No shame or regret...

"Not funny, Iris." Edward growled as he approached from behind me.

I smiled in spite of him. "How's Alice?" I turned to look at my beautiful husband.

"She's planning her first visit already." He sighed and kissed my forehead. "And she wanted me to tell you that she wants her room done in shades of lilac, grey, and crystals..." He rolled his eyes good-naturedly with a smile. He would miss her too.

I looked around the green landscape surrounding us once more, almost regretting that we had to leave in just a few more days.

"We can come back, and if you're having any regrets about leaving the family—"

"No!" I cleared my throat after my unexpected outburst. "I mean...no, I'm not going back on our decision. This was just the first place that felt like home in a long time. Definitely the first place since being here...in this world. It's where we were married and where we had Thea. I'm just reminiscing...I'll be fine. I'm excited to start fresh somewhere else, really." Edward raised a brow at me as he tried to decipher the truth in my words and thoughts. Sheesh. Cut it out! I'm fine!

"Good. So you're ready to leave all this behind?" Edward appeared wistful himself.

"I'm ready to get back to the good old U. S. of A..." I winked at him and then turned to shout, "'Murica!" He looked at me like I had lost my marbles as I laughed. "You'll get it in about forty years..."

"Ok, well, let's go inform the rest of the family."

"You mean me..?"

"Well, you insisted that I deal with Alice, so yes." He chuckled.

A few days later, I found myself headed out to the car, Thea already there bouncing up and down in the window excited about our move. We were on our way to Concord, New Hampshire where I would be attending The Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Nursing.

Looking back at the manor and then toward the wonderous greenery surrounding me, I suddenly had the perfect idea of how to close this phase of our life out properly. I rushed to the edge of the property where there was a small cliff side overlooking more trees. I held my hands out wide to my sides, took a deep breath in and...

"I WOULD WALK 500 MILES, AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE. JUST TO BE THE M—"

"What are you doing?" Edward wore an amused expression as he paused a couple hundred feet away from me as he had been carrying our bags out to the car.

"Singing the Scottish National Anthem as a farewell." Duh.

"That's not the Scottish National Anthem..." he said in a confused voice but still appearing entertained.

"Not yet..." I laughed, and he shook his head as he continued to the car. He had stopped trying to understand my joking references to the future long ago. Now he just accepted my strangeness. Smart man.

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