"Hey babes." As I caught up with Althea, I gave her a quick hug, the smile on my face not being able to be kept down. "What're you so happy about?"
"I just can't believe we're shopping for baby clothes!" At this she gave me a fond look, almost like I was her pet dog and had done something completely stupid – running into a wall perhaps – but she just had to love me anyway.
"You've been pregnant for 5 months, and you choose now to get excited?"
"When has anything I've ever said made sense?" I asked her, and she shot me another smile, mirth clear in her eyes. As we decided to start the trip, we linked arms, going around town with two big grins on both our faces that probably made us look like lunatics. But if Althea had taught me anything it was that in the great scheme of things we didn't matter, so other people's opinions on us were of very little importance. I liked that about her, how she could do whatever she wanted all the time without caring what other people said. Lately she'd been rubbing off on me.
That thought brought tears to my eyes, because it reminded me of all that time ago, when I was laying against a tree awaiting death. For a minute I'd almost embraced it, thinking that I didn't know who I was – my whole life had revolved around the monster before that point. I, as a person, had revolved around him too. But now I was glad I hadn't given up. I'd realised my personality didn't have to depend on him anymore, I could have Althea's confidence and Sky's kindness and Gray's loyalty. All of my friends and family to base who I was off of. And I couldn't be happier.
As I touched my hand to my stomach lightly, I thought of the little girl on her way. She'd be called Aubrey, and she was going to be the most beautiful girl ever conceived. She'd never have to go through any pain, and she'd certainly never have to ponder hurtful questions like 'who am I to become now?'
"Hey, you ok?" She asked this with an Althea-look-of-concern on her features. Which meant she was looking at me with an eyebrow raised and a teasing glint in her eyes. She didn't really look all that worried, but I knew how to read her.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking."
"Well stop thinking and just let yourself be blinded by all the pastel pink." Glancing up I saw she was right. We were in the middle of a baby shop, and around us all I could see were just aisles and aisles of pink.
"Hm… I'm wondering whether I want to go pink or blue."
"Pink's too mainstream."
"You're right. Let's go purple." I kept it hidden that really I just wanted to leave this aisle due to the feelings that had invaded me within it. I could see it on her features that there was some disbelief over my change of heart, especially considering I'd spent the past couple of weeks talking about cute pink dresses for babies. Yet she never questioned it, simply linking our arms again and dragging me away from all the horrible memories haunting my past.
And so we spent the next three hours scavenging every single store for purple baby clothing, which there wasn't much of. Even still, it was a great day, laughs filling the air without a care in the world.
I absentmindedly made my way into the house that afternoon, humming to myself. I saw Gray there, putting in some soft sticky tape on the corners of the table to baby-proof the table. I watched in admiration from the doorway, the thought that he was doing this for our child, making me smile fondly. I'd gotten to the point in my life where there was nothing I could possibly be sad about. He'd been making me so happy lately, my heart swelling every time our eyes connected. In fact, our gazes meeting wasn't even necessary, just staring at his back made me feel like the luckiest girl alive. Because he was mine, and he'd told me he'd never ever leave me.
Wanting to return a bit of the happiness he'd given me, I silently stalked up to him. Jumping on his back before he had a chance to see that I was in the living room too, I leaned down into his ear.
"Rawr!" He startled for a second before turning his head and smiling at me, laughter shining in his eyes. "That means I love you in dinosaur." I told him seriously, nodding once before the laughter I couldn't keep back betrayed me. I'd wanted to say it with a straight face but the situation just seemed so humorous.
"Oh so you speak dinosaur now?" I nodded again solemnly, trying once again to be serious. It worked for all but two seconds. I dissolved into giggles as he spun me off his back. He was so tall that he was still picking me up though, so that we could be face to face. From up close his eyes made me want to melt. "In that case I suppose I'll have to tell the whole world that I love you in a language you understand." At that point I expected him to either tell me he was joking or actually go and shout it from the rooftops. But instead he leaned down close to my ear.
"What-"
"Rawr, rawr, rawr." Still confused, I cocked my head to the side, staring at him.
"Don't be silly, that's not the whole world, it's just me." He pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss and then murmured against my lips.
"You are my world." Smiling broader than I'd ever done, I thought back to these past five years with him. I thought about the engagement ring on my finger and the beautiful girl that was coming in 4 months. I thought of how happy I was by his side – how nothing in this world could separate me from him.
Remembering how broken I was when I'd arrived at the Benedicts' still made melancholy settle heavily in my chest, but for that moment, I forced myself to look back on that darker time. I'd been so convinced that nothing could be done for me, that I was shattered beyond relief. Yet Gray had slowly made his way through my defences, never letting himself be deterred by my broken heart.
And without me even realising, he'd fixed every single broken piece.
~The End~
Hi :)
Oh my god, this is the last author's note I will ever leave *tears up*
Ok so here we are, at the end of the epilogue, and I have many many people to thank:
Finchy Benedict - you've been absolutely great, and I've loved every single one of your comments. Thanks so much for all of them, they've been a great inspiration :)
Lissa - I never get the chance to thank you personally for any of your reviews as you're a guest, but I honestly owe you so much, and I couldn't be happier that you decided to grace my book with your lovely presence :)
Tahira - This is probably getting really repetitive by this point, but thanks so much to you too, I appreciated all your encouragement loads :)
Guests - It's honestly such a pity I can't even point you out by specific name, but you've all been absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much xx
Ok there are other people, but if I went through listing them all we'd never finish xD But here are a few: unicornsaren'treal, Booklover, CurseTheGovernment, etc. I loved all your comments just as much, and I thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to feel completely a part of the Finding Sky community.
Also, if you guys want a seque to this (I dunno, maybe Aubrey's story?), send me a review telling me and I'll see what I can do. I really would love to continue this story in some shape or form - I'll miss Petal and Gray so much :'(
Bye bye xx