Well it took me long enough but I finally got this story finished. It's the ending I always planned even if it took me a while to get here lol. But for everyone that's read the story and taken the time to reply, thank you. It means a lot to me and makes this whole writing thing worthwhile. :)

Epilogue

Chapter 22

"It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong"

One year later

Stephanie began to walk down the narrow pathway of the graveyard. She tilted her face to the sky feeling the warmth from the rays of the sun as they continued to beat down on her. It was a glorious summer day but yet it was tinged with her sadness. It was her mom's anniversary. It had been a year ago today she had passed away.

Sighing sadly, Stephanie felt her heart ache with her loss and her footsteps slowed with trepidation as she approached the familiar white marble headstone. She clutched the bouquet of flowers to her chest. It was still so hard for her to come here, to visit her mother's resting place. It had been even harder the day of the funeral. It had been a beautiful sunny day that morning too and for some reason that had made it seem even worse because how could it be so glorious outside when her whole world was falling apart around her. It just didn't seem right. Just like it didn't seem right that the most precious thing in her life had been cruelly taken away from her. Yet at the same time it had been a blessing she was gone. Her mom was no longer in any pain any more. Her suffering could finally be over.

Stephanie let out a calming breath as she stood in front of the grave. The white roses she had brought only last week still stood proudly in the small metal grate. She placed the orange coloured cala-lilies she held on the ledge next to them.

"Hey Mom." she said as she stepped back and tears suddenly burned her throat. Her watery blue eyes stared sadly at the gold lettered inscription that bore her mother's name.

"You can sleep now and rest peacefully with the angels."

It was an inscription she couldn't even remember choosing. Everything had been such a haze in the run up to the funeral and even for a long while after. Because as much as Stephanie thought she had prepared herself for her inevitable loss, the reality of her mom actually dying had hit her hard. Her whole life had been her and her mom together and suddenly she didn't have that any more. Her mom was gone. She didn't need her daughter to bathe her. She didn't need her to make her weekly trip down to the pharmacy to get her medication. She didn't need her for anything any more. She had no one to care for and Stephanie hadn't known what to do with her self. She had felt so empty and lost. Most times she felt like a stranger to herself too and then there were the days when the pain was so fresh and so raw that she just couldn't still.

"I miss you." Stephanie sniffed.

Her shaky breath mixed in with the light breeze that blew through the trees and the branches whispered back to her. Or at least Stephanie liked to think they were whispering. She took comfort from the belief that they were the whispers of the souls that lay at rest here; the whispers of her own mother.

"But you don't have to worry about me." she told her as her hand lifted to wipe at her cheek and chase away the solitary tear that had escaped and slipped over her lashes. "I'm doing okay. Paul is looking after me."

Stephanie turned and held out her hand to the man that stood just a few feet away respectfully keeping his distance as she paid her respects. But while Paul gave her space, he was always within her reach. And that was the way it had been ever since that horrible day a year ago. He'd never let her down. He was always there when she had needed him and when she pushed him away he understood her reasons because Paul got it. More than anyone he knew she was going through. When she had fallen apart, he had picked her back up again. He had been her rock and her shoulder through everything. Paul had been her safe place to fall and she was so grateful to him because without him, she wasn't sure she would have survived.

"You think she can hear me?" she asked him as Paul took her hand, linking his fingers through hers as Stephanie leant his head on his shoulder.

"Of course she can hear you and she'll be proud of you, Steph. I know she will." he smiled fondly as he dropped a kiss in her soft brown hair.

"I just wish she could meet her." Stephanie sighed as she rubbed her hand over her rounded stomach.

She was five months pregnant much to her and Paul's surprise. She could still remember the day she had found out about the baby. She had been upset and scared and Paul had found her in a hysterical mess on the bathroom floor. She hadn't been making much sense but when he had seen the positive pregnancy test in her hand, he had simply held her until her tears had run dry. He had then made a promise to always be there for her and the baby no matter what and from that day on Stephanie had held onto that promise even making a promise to herself that she would find a way to cope with everything because now there wasn't just her self to think of. There was the baby too and she was going to be there for her child just like her mom had been there for her. God, she would have been such the proud grandmother doting on her grandchild. She just wished Linda was here so she could hold the baby in her arms just one time.

"There could actually be a him in there you know."

Paul's voice lifted her from her thoughts and Stephanie's mouth curved up gently as she turned to face him.

"It could. Guess we'll have to wait and find out."

The truth was they didn't know if their baby was a boy or a girl. They wanted it to be a surprise especially when the truth was there were very few real surprises in life any more or at least the happy surprises anyway. So her child would be one of them and that's where she lucked out because Stephanie knew she had been fortunate to find two in her life. She had found Paul after all.

"Come on. Let's get you home."

Stephanie smiled at that thought. Home. For so long that idea had been a stranger to her as she had put her own wants and happiness aside to get the help her mother had so desperately needed. She had married John. A man whose money gave her the lifeline she had so desperately needed but when her mom had gone, so had any obligation she had to stay with him. Not that John had wanted her to stay anyway. The second he had discovered her and Paul were together he had cut both of them from his life stating he never wanted to see them ever again. And that suited them fine. That chapter of her life was over and she was with Paul. Her heart belonged to him. He was her home now.

"Goodbye Mom. I love you." Stephanie smiled and this time she allowed her tears to fall as she realised it was okay to cry. She wasn't going to completely fall apart but if she did she knew she wasn't alone. Paul would always be there to catch her.

"Sleep tight Linda." Paul smiled and began to follow Stephanie as she led him towards the narrow path. But he paused for a second, turning on his heel and his brown eyes settled on the marble headstone one last time.

"I'll take care of them both. I promise." he told her softly.

Paul felt the light breeze on his face as he turned away and as he caught up with Stephanie, the branches rustled behind him gently whispering their approval.