THE FINAL INSTILLMENT OF THATS WHERE LOVE WILL BE
Epilogue
Six weeks later (right after Roger and Mimi's reception), Ashlynn and Leah's room. Ashlynn's POV
Leah giggled as I pulled her into our room, the blindfold tied tightly around her eyes. I dropped her hand and pulled her closer to me by her hips and kissed her lips softly.
"No peeking." I demanded, and I moved away from her, waving my hands in front of her face. When I was sure she wasn't going to peek, I turned the radio on and put ina CD of our favorite music. The candles I had lit an hour before were still burning, so I reached around Leah, brushing a strand of blonde hair off her face as I did so.
"Ash!!" I smiled and hugged her.
"Be patient love." Leah nodded and dropped her arms from around me. I pressed play on the radio and made sure the rose petels were all on the bed, and then I reached around Leah, to the back of her head and untied the old scarf I'd used as a blindfold.
Leah gasped and threw her arms around me. "What's the occasion?" I shook my head and pulled her around in a slow circle, admiring the way the simple dress she had flowed on her body.
"Do I need an occasion to spoil you?" Leah shook her head and settled into my arms, resting her head on my shoulder. I kissed the side of her head and squeezed her to me.
"It's been a crazy year hasn't it?" I shook my head again and chuckled as Leah pressedher body closer to mine, still we swayed to the music.
"That's an understatement. A huge understatement." I thought of all the things that had gone wrong the past year and heaved a huge sigh. I suddenly stopped dancing and took Leah's hand in mine and I sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling Leah down on my lap. Her pale green dress hugged her body nicely, and contrasted greatly with my bright purple bridesmaid dress.
"I can't believe we've stayed together. That we've made it." I kissed Leah gently.
"No matter what happens, or what has happened, I will always love you and that will never change. Leah smiled and kissed me slowly and passionately, pushing me down on the bed.
"Promise?"
"I promise." Leah smiled and stood up, reaching around her back and unzipping her dress, letting it fall down to her feet.
Later, as Leah slept soundly, her head on my chest I thought back on the crazy year. I'd learned alot of things, and some of those things made me a stronger person. I'd learned that Mom and Dad were the catalyst that held our family together and without them we wouldn't be anything, I'd learned that Aunt Joanne wasn't really as strog as th front she put up and I'd learned that people could be exceptionally cruel. I learned that time really does heal all wounds, and that love heals all.
I also realized that family wasn't always about blood. It was about the place you made for yourself in the world. And if it just so happened to be with people that weren't blood then that was the way it was going to be. I learned that my family was the biggest part of my life. Mom and Dad, Uncle Mark and Miguel, Alicia, Aunt Mimi and Izzy and Uncle Roger, Aunt Joanne and Eric and Aunt Maureen, and even Uncle Benny and of course my own personal sunshine, Leah are the reason I am who I am. I had no blood, and I never had, but that doesn't really bother me so much, because my family is all that matter's to me anyways.
I tightened my hold on the angel sleeping in my arms and pressed a feathery kiss to her lips before closing mmy own eyes and cuddling closer to her.
So what mattered the most was that my place in the world was where ever my family happened to be at the moment. Because when worst comes to worst and tempers flare, hearts are broken, and it seems like nothing will ever be the same, and you have no hope at all: That's where love and family will be, and thats where you'll find me.
