A/N: ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER UNTIL THIS STORY IS FINISHED!

sadly, there will NOT be a sequel. sorry.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
(chapter title – Cassidy's Point of View, part 3)

It's been three months since Ella and Tomas' wedding. Ella has started her training for the Olympic Equestrian Team and is in the arena almost every day, mounted on either Hope II, Musketeer or High Tide. Hope II is Ella's dressage horse, High Tide is her stadium jumper and Musketeer is her field jumper.

I watched Ella work with Hope II before I left to have lunch with Tomas' mother. It was on her lunch hour and she had requested to talk to me. I don't know what about – I would find out when I got to the café.

I had no problems finding the little hole-in-the-wall café. I told the hostess that I was waiting for a friend and she had me sit at the bar.

A few moments later, Mrs. Horowitz entered the café. She spotted me and we sat at a table towards the back of the café.

We ordered drinks and food before conversing.

"Helen, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked as I took a sip of my water.

"Ella and Tomas. I didn't like her coming to the house when they were in high school. They were too young to be fooling around." Helen told me. I set my water glass down and felt my eyes grow big.

"She was over there studying with Tomas – that's what she told me." I told her, taking another drink of water.

"I think she was a bad influence on Tomas. Before Ella came into his life, he devoted himself to his schoolwork and his sports. Once Ella and Tomas started dating, she seemed to take his mind off everything – his sports and schoolwork, mostly." Helen said. I couldn't believe what this woman was saying!

"What do you expect me to do about it back then? Make sure they didn't see each other? Keep them away?" I asked. I was furious!

"I just think you could've been a better parent and stop having babies every five minutes." Helen told me. I glared at her as our food came.

After we ate, I stormed out of the café and headed home. I felt my temper rising as I stormed into the house and made my way to Marius' study. I let out a scream, startling Marius.

"Dearest, what's wrong?" Marius inquired, coming over and massaged my shoulders. "You're awfully tense."

"I am NEVER speaking to Helen Horowitz EVER AGAIN!" I exclaimed.

"What happened?" he asked.

I couldn't find the right words, but somehow, I explained what happened during lunch.

"I can't believe that she would say such a thing!" Marius said.

"Tell me about it." I replied, rubbing my temples. Marius sat next to me and held me against him. He kissed the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me.

"How would you like to go out to dinner? Just the two of us?" Marius asked after a while.

"I would love that, but I'm kind of exhausted. Also, it's our night to watch Helena for Tomas and Ella." I reminded him, kissing his cheek. I stood up and went to the kitchen to make a latte.

"Whoo! I had a really good ride on Musketeer!" Ella exclaimed as she came in the house. "He cleared almost all the jumps and didn't break a sweat!"

"That's great, sweetie. I'm making a latte – would you like one?" I asked. Ella nodded and made a latte for herself.

"Are you and dad okay watching Helena while Tomas and I have our date night?" she asked. "Normally, I would have Sara babysit, but she's sick."

"Poor Sara. What does she have?" I inquired, taking a sip of my latte.

"Bronchitis." Ella answered, taking a small sip of her latte. I frowned knowing what Sara was going through – I had just made a full recovery from bronchitis – it's not fun.

I then remembered my conversation with Tomas' mother that afternoon. I was torn whether or not to tell Ella about it. If I told her, she would be really upset at me. If I didn't tell her, she would somehow find out.

"I hope you two have fun tonight," I told Ella. "What movie and restaurant are you two going to?"

"We're seeing that new romantic comedy that just came out. For dinner, we're going to that new Italian restaurant that just opened up across town." Ella responded, flashing me one more smile before going to her room to change.

Tomas arrived fifteen minutes later with Helena in tow. She was now two-years-old and looked exactly like Tomas.

"Thanks for doing this on such short notice Mrs. P." Tomas said, handing me Helena's diaper bag and eventually Helena.

"You're welcome and how many times do I have to tell you – call me Cassidy." I told my son-in-law. He laughed and hugged me. I hugged him back just as Ella came down the stairs.

Helena, Marius, the kids and I had a really fun night. We watched a movie all of us could agree on – the Sing-A-Long Pals. We also ate a good dinner.

The younger set of twins and Helena took a bath together, which involved a lot of splashing and pretending. I laughed and shook my head, knowing how silly my children and my granddaughter were.

I helped all three of them out of the tub and helped Helena put on her pajamas. I put Helena in the twins' bedroom and read them the story we were reading.

I then turned off the light and looked at the three of them sleeping together. Helena had her head on Felicity's shoulder, her arms around the stuffed giraffe she brought along.

I watched the sleeping three and two year olds for a while before closing the door part way. I then went to say goodnight to Cosette, Ryan and Anton.

Ella and Tomas arrived at the house a short while later. I told Ella where Helena was while Tomas and I talked. I told him about the conversation I had with his mother that afternoon. I also made him promise not to tell Ella – it would upset her. He promised he wouldn't tell her.

"I can't believe my mom said that!" Tomas exclaimed quietly.

"I know. Do you know why she would say that?" I questioned.

"She's probably upset at me because I got Ella knocked up before we were married. There's no need to dwell on that Cassidy." He told me, a broad smile on his face.

"Dearest, are we ready to go?" Ella whispered, carrying a sleeping Helena in her arms. Tomas nodded and held Helena while Ella got the diaper bag. She then turned to me. "Thanks again, mom. I'll be by sometime tomorrow to work the horses."

"Okay. I told your uncles Courfrayac and Joly that they could come and watch." I told Ella. She nodded and together, the three of them were on their way.

I went to find Marius, who was in the master bedroom, working on his laptop. I sat next to him and nuzzled his collarbone. He looked over his shoulder at me and kissed my cheek.

"You all right?" I asked as I got ready for bed.

"Yes and no," he replied, his tone sad. I looked over from putting my hair in a braid and sat next to him. "I've been feeling ill for a while. I went to this medical website to see what was going on. Turns out I have the beginning stages of leukemia."

I felt my stomach drop – there was no way in hell I was losing Marius. I had already lost my mother, father, Cedric and sadly, Thomas. I couldn't afford to lose anyone else in my family.

I hugged him as I felt tears in my eyes. I felt him put his arms around me and hold me close. He ran a hand through my hair and kissed my cheek, assuring me that he would be all right.

I hoped that he would be fine and we could move on with our lives.

A year later

I was in Marius' hospital room, not ready to say goodbye to the one person I cannot live without. He had taken a turn for the worse last night and I feared he wouldn't have long to live.

"Call. The. Kids." He croaked. I nodded, kissed the top of his head and stepped into the hallway. I called Ella to see if she and Tomas could bring the kids – it was time to say goodbye to Marius.

They were at the hospital and at Marius' bedside within twenty minutes. Ella sat next to Marius' bed and held his hand in hers. I helped Tomas wrangle the younger kids, mostly Jace, Felicity and Helena, so they wouldn't get into anything.

Anton threw himself across Marius' chest, begging Marius not to go. Marius smiled and placed a hand on Anton's shoulder, gently squeezing it.

Cosette and Ryan had tears streaming down their cheeks as they joined Ella and Anton at Marius' bedside.

"What are Ella, Anton, Ryan and Cosette doing?" Jace inquired. I sighed and looked at my youngest. They were now four. Ella came up behind me and hugged me.

"I'll take it from here, mom. Dad wants to say goodbye to you." Ella told me. I nodded and walked over to Marius, sitting in the hospital chair near his bed.

He smiled up at me and slowly brought a hand to my cheek. I wrapped my fingers around his hand, wanting to be with him forever.

"Cass, before I go, I want you to do something for me." Marius started. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks, but I didn't care.

"Anything." I told him, blinking tears out of my eyes.

"After I'm gone, I want you to find someone. I don't want to see you all alone after Anton, Cosette and Ryan go off to college." He told me.

"I can't move on – I love you!" I cried.

"I know," he closed his eyes, turning his face towards me, "I love you, too."

It all happened so fast, I don't know where to begin. After Marius took his last breath, I fell on top of him, pleading for him to come back. The nurse shoved me off of him and felt for a pulse. She then looked at me and shook her head.

I slumped in the chair, tears streaming down my cheeks. Ella and Tomas came over, crying with me. The kids eventually came over and hugged me.

That first night alone was so scary. I couldn't believe that Marius was gone. We had just celebrated our 29th anniversary and hoped to celebrate 29 more.

It wasn't until a year after Marius' death that one of Marius' friends, Bahorel, asked me out. I told him 'yes' and the two of us have been on five dates. He proposed to me on our sixth date, which I said 'yes' to as well.

Since I couldn't have children, we decided to look at adoption. We would adopt a baby between the ages of 4 and 8 months, preferably a girl.

When we got back from our honeymoon, there was a message from the adoption agency. Our little four-month-old daughter, Katie Lynn, was ready for us. We didn't even unpack – just threw our suitcases in our room and rushed to the agency.

As soon as I held Katie in my arms, I knew that my life was complete. Bahorel smiled and asked to hold her. I nodded and carefully handed her to him. He kissed the top of her head and held her.

I felt our family was complete.