This is it, guys! The story's over. I hope you guys like the ending, and aren't disappointed. I appreciate you guys even reading my story. That means more to me than you even know. Take care.
--melancholyXdreams
EPILOGUE:
Ace and I stayed in Castle Rock. We were going to move to Portland, but decided not to when I got a full-time teaching position at the high school. Ace is head foreman at the lumber yard. Almost five years to the day we got married, I had a baby girl. We named her Laura Elizabeth after both her grandmothers. They still live in Castle Rock, and we vist them often.
The last time I connected up with anyone of our gang was Gordie. He came for a visit when Laura had just turned six. Over a cup of coffee, he told me Teddy had died in a car accident, and I told him Vern died in a house fire. Chris was doing just fine, taking law classes right alongside Gordie. After that visit, I never saw Gordie again. We finally drifted apart. I found out later from the Porland paper that Chris had died in an accident at restaurant. I shed a lot of tears for him, my lost best friend. I had to wonder if his bastard of a father had cared when he heard.
After that, Ace and I led a quiet, but happy life. He never again touched a bottle of beer, nor raised his hand or voice to either Laura or me. He was settled, I think, closing the doors of his past that had made him so angry. But Laura and I were his present and future, and we made him happy.
THE END