Epilogue:

Santa Monica, 1932

Adeline looked out across the outside auditorium, her eyes gazing over rows and rows of tightly packed chairs and hundreds of people crammed into them. She didn't find her parents in those few minutes, though, and had to quickly turn her attention back to the dean, who at that moment started the ceremony. She listened, somewhat impatiently, as he made his generic "I am very proud of each and every one of my students…" speech. She doubted if he even knew more than five of their names, let alone what they had accomplished.

It was graduation day and Adeline was among the many students receiving degrees. Hers was in fashion design, and already she had received offers from studios all around the country, including one in New York, where she planned on moving to, with her sweetheart, Richard. His father had announced his retirement that spring, and had offered the law firm to his son, which Richard had gladly accepted. He had asked Rose to marry him just a few weeks ago, and they were planning on moving to Manhattan. The wedding wouldn't be until October, however, so they would have some down time-as Richard called it. Adeline saw it more as planning time-before the ceremony.

Unconsciously, she twisted her ring around in a circle on her finger. She was utterly bored out of her skull and was hot from the sun, which was shining right in her eyes. Having to wear the heavy gown didn't help matters, either, and a small amount of sweat was beginning to glaze her temples. Sighing discreetly, her eyes once again drifted out into the audience as the dean continued the speech.

She found her fiancé first, and managed to catch his eye. He smiled and waved a little from his seat, and Adeline smiled back softly. It was then that she noticed that to the right of him was the rest of her family. The whole lot of them…

Her eyes moved to Rose, her mother, who was sitting back in her seat, looking rather uncomfortable, as she held two-year-old Josephine, who was squirming and trying to get away from her mother. Jack sat on the other side with Jo's twin, John. Beside them were the other three girls; Roseanna who was just one year younger than herself. Samantha, who turned fourteen next week and then ten year old Elizabeth. Adeline looked with pride upon her younger siblings. The Dawson children were all fair in colour; their hair mixed palette's of blondes, to auburn and their eyes various shades of blue and green. Adeline, however, was gifted with her mothers eyes and jet black curls which spiralled to her waist.

The twins were certainly different people. Josephine had been born with Rose's wild hair, Jack's eyes, and both of their personalities put together-a lethal combination. She always wanted to be on the move, couldn't stand to just sit down and stay there. In fact, Adeline was the only one who could get her to behave and settle down. But John, however, seemed to have inherited the milder side of his parents. His hair was a soft, strawberry blonde and again, he had eyes like his father's. He was chubbier then his sister-something Rose, groaning blamed herself for-but that didn't stop him from keeping up with her. However, he was already the person of reason, from what Adeline could see. They were the youngest two, and out of six children with a large age gap, she knew that her parents would always be kept on their toes.

Adeline's mind was brought back to reality when she heard her name being announced. She blinked a few times and then rose from her chair. It was she who was giving the student address that afternoon, based largely on her peer's high opinion of her and also of her speech that she had composed and sent in. With trembling hands, she crossed the stage to the podium and stood facing the audience. Richard gave her a little thumb's up and then Josephine waved wildly. Adeline could see Rose's face turn white when her daughter did so. But when Josephine didn't say anything, she saw her mother breathe a sigh of relief.

Taking a deep breath, Adeline pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and spread it out on the podium, running her hands over the creases a few times. She was nervous, but she had also done this enough to know that once she started talking, it would turn into productive adrenaline.

"Anon said, 'Is life worth living? That depends on the liver.' We sit there today before you all as we prepare to graduate from college and step out into the real world. But each of our journeys depends on what we ourselves make of them." Pausing, she licked her lips. ''My father always taught me make life count, no matter what…''

She glanced up, meeting eyes with Jack Dawson, her father and even though time had lined his precious blue eyes, they were still filled with the same wisdom which she had found there as a baby. The same pride. The same love. The same devotion. And devoted he had been to her. Raising her as his own child…

With triumph, Adeline ran through her speech, pronouncing words as they should be, pausing when she needed, and using the right things at the right time. It was a motivational speech, not meant to be sad, but she noticed some people reaching for their tissues. An odd feeling came over her as she read the familiar words; they were beginning to finally sink in. The nature of one's journey did depend on what one made of it. Adeline had written the speech from an outside perspective, but now she saw. She had put her heart and soul into college. Into her life. She had loved helping to raise her siblings. Going on those epic adventures that they had all of her life. Her father taught her to draw, her mother had a passion for the stage and would come home in so many different beautiful gowns that it sparked a passion inside of her to combine the two loves of her parents. Now she was going to start a new life, in a new city, with a fiancé. Would she have the drive to do the same things she did as her parents had?

As she wrapped up her speech and walked back to her seat as a round of applause erupted from the audience, she thought of what she was about to do. The next part of her journey would be whatever she made it. If she failed, it was her own fault. And if she succeeded, that too was her fault.

Her parents had succeeded. Breaking all barriers of love and defying society to be together. Now, as they sat, together, twenty years later, still holding hands and looking at each other with such love and passion as Richard did with her, she knew that even if failure did come…then she would simply brush herself up and get back away. Trudy, the maid who had saved her life as a baby, would always send a card at Christmas and birthdays, and would remind her each year that even though we do fail, we have to use it to our advantage, to make us stronger.

Every now and then, Adeline contemplated her biological father; the cowardly man who had taken his own life after refusing to deal with his loss of pride. Her parents had sat down at thirteen and explained their entire story to her. She had listened, with fascination, with horror and even a little sorrow. Her mother had painted the picture of how living within the walls of Society had been. How much pressure they had been under. And how Jack Dawson had been their freedom…

There had been a news clipping once, reporting Caledon Hockley's death and Adeline had looked into the eyes of the man who she supposed was her flesh and blood and found nothing. Not even a single tear.

Instead, she used his death as a lesson. As a remembrance. Even if a person has misfortune, it doesn't mean that they had to give up. Caledon Hockley lost everything, and he chose to put a pistol in his mouth. In the crash of 1929, Nathan Hockley followed suit…or so she had read. Upon hearing of the demise of Hockley, Rose's mother, Ruth had refused work as a seamstress and just a year later, she was married to a rich man, who paid off the remaining debts left by Rose's father. It appeared that money was the answer to everything and the root of all evil.

Yet, when her mother and father had left a small village in England in the hot summer of 1912, with only the charred clothes on their back and her in a blanket, somehow they had conjured up the total sum of four pounds and turned that into something bigger. Something better. They had boarded a ship for the States where Roseanna had been born just a month or two later. They had survived the Great War. They had buried a child. They had lived. They had barely any money but they had cherished each other.

''Barriers are meant to be broken, Ade. Never let anyone put you in a box. In a cage. You can fly freely, sweetheart, just as much as a bird can.'' Her father had always told her. ''Make your life count.''

And laid there, within the safety and comfort of her daddy's arms as a young girl, she had dreamed and believed and that had turned into her entire life and her siblings too. They were every child's dream parents and that would never change.

A tear escaped her eye then, and she quickly swiped it away. It wasn't that she was afraid of her future but more that she was sad to say goodbye to those who she loved the most. But she was ready.

Ready to fly…

Oh, wow, completely done with this now. I absolutely loved writing this, I do hope the ending ticks all of the boxes. I feel bittersweet to end it. But I really need to move onto something a little more challenging. Thank you for reading.