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Chapter 40

The Epilogue

Tris' POV

Four months later

I take a deep breath, fixing my dress as I check myself in front of the mirror. I can't believe today has finally arrived. Although I can't take the credit. Everyone really pulled their weight and helped this special day happen. Even the kids, who helped paint the burn marks away on the bakery walls.

It's hard to believe that only four months have passed since the fire. So much has changed in such a short amount of time.

Starting with our overnight getaway Tobias and I had. He confessed that one day he would marry me, making us an official family. Of course, I knew that he meant it. I knew one day, he would get his way. But a part of me needed to freeze time, to just enjoy what was happening and not to focus on so much of the future. Whatever that may bring us.

I felt like the past eight years, since Tobias has been gone… That I have been focusing on survival for the future. To make sure I could give my baby tomorrow… And for the first time in a long time I can stop to really enjoy every moment without thinking about tomorrow. For the first time, I felt like I could give someone else control and share tomorrow's worries.

It was a month or so after our little getaway, that Tobias surprised us with the news that he was indeed moving out. He had found himself a place. And not just a place, but a house. Big enough for the future possibilities, but also solving all the current concerns of our present.

The news took us by complete surprise. Although we knew he was looking and the plan was for him to move out… We didn't expect him to do it so fast.

It wasn't until he offered to show us the place… That we realized what exactly he had done. I always thought Tobias would eventually have a condo in town, perhaps a house… Instead Tobias walked us out of the house and guided us not to the car but to the house next door.

The house has four bedrooms, a den and two baths, along with a formal living room, dining room and a breakfast bar. Did I mention the built in pool and large, gorgeous backyard. It's absolutely perfect.

"I figured we would knock down the fence between both of the yards… Which would make it easier for everyone. This way, not much would change. This way you two could still have each other's backs." He said once we were in the backyard. The whole thing left Chris and I speechless. He really took every concern that we had from room to grow, to needing to make this work with Christina. Of course, I didn't want things between us to change too much. Having our lives intertwined for so long. But I didn't know how we would have made that work now that Tobias was back. I remember asking myself if we could just make room for him in our bubble. To find a way. I hadn't figured out how, but Tobias had. Converting both backyards into one, making our one house bubble grow into two separate houses, but moving in sequence with each other. That is when we were good and ready.

He had let Emily pick her room that night. Letting her know that it was her home too. She was so excited to start decorating it. Asking him to take her to the store for some special purple paint the next day.

It was that night as Tobias tucked our daughter into bed, that she melted his heart even more when she called him that name that he had been dying to be called, Daddy. It wasn't the stuff that he was giving her that brought her to finally being comfortable enough to call him that. No. It was the idea of always being permanent in her life. For her to know that he was her father now and forever and he wasn't going to leave again.

Of course Emily and I still had our place in Christina's house. Although Tobias made it perfectly clear that his house was our home too. Of course, it would be there whenever we felt good and ready to move on permanently. We made arrangements for Emily to spend every other weekend with him, along with taking the kids to school and helping out with picking up the kids twice a week.

I know it's silly, not moving the moment he signed the papers. But truth be told, I'm just not ready yet. Yet, I will be though. I choose him, as he chooses me. But that doesn't mean we have to go 100 miles an hour. No, not if we want to make sure we have forever. Although that doesn't mean we don't live happily in sin. For at least a little while.

Butterflies ruptured in my entire stomach, I don't believe I was just as nervous when the bakery first opened years ago. But I am. Christina stands right next to me, excitement written all over her face. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that she feels the same way I do.

Everyone worked so hard day in and day out every single day to make this happen. There were never any excuses, no reschedules. No second thoughts. Everyone that needed to show up was there. Just like I have been there for them and so has Christina.

The crowd gathers in the lobby, some friends, some family and of course some of our regular customers… All here to support the reopening of our bakery. All excited for the world to feel that much more normal again.

I glanced at Tobias and Emily first, then I looked at our friends. We've all grown up, but never grew apart. My heart swells at the thought of how lucky I truly am.

Christina urges me to go first, I step up to the empty spot on the floor. I clear my throat trying to think of the right words to say.

" Thank you all for coming and being here today as we prepare to reopen our bakery. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate each and everyone of you… Christina and I are truly blessed to have you all here today and come tomorrow…" I let my words trail off as I see Tobias step forward and close the gap between us. My eyebrows crease together confused on what he is doing. That's when I see it, his excitement mixed with his nervousness.

" What are you doing?" I whisper.

And instead of responding to my question, he stops right next to me turning towards the crowd, he begins the words he himself has prepared.

" I have been in love with Tris Prior since the moment I saw her. Even in her tomboyish years, she was something special. There was a flame that was lit in her eyes that no one else seemed to see. But I saw it. From that moment on all I wanted to do was to be near her. But of course, I was too chickenshit."He jokes, making everybody laugh around him in agreement." But then, one night I found out, I found out that she felt the same way about me. My life has never been the same." He glances down at me as he continues, " I was stupid once, thinking, thinking I needed to protect you. I made the choice, the wrong choice, to leave you all alone. I should have been working with you, as a team. And it was in this exact spot that we got a second chance at being a team. It was this exact spot that our flame grew once more." My eyes look in shock as I watch him kneel down on one knee before me. His right hand digging into his pocket as he takes my left hand and places it in his hand. And it's at this moment that I know exactly what he is doing. My heart stops as I gasp in disbelief. " It's in this exact spot that you…" He pulls out a gorgeous ring from his pocket, holding it up for me to see. " Tris Prior, will you be my wife?"

" Yes." I barely get out as tears roll down my cheeks. " Yes, I will marry you," I confirm, just as he climbs back to his feet, slipping the ring on my finger and lifting me up off the floor. I feel myself twirling around in his arms as his lips meet mine. We are surrounded by the crowd the moment he lets my feet touch the floor. Everyone reachs us, hugging us, congratulating us. My mother held me tightly, delighted at how things had worked out for us. My father, shaking Tobias' hand, approvingly. Our daughter… OUR daughter circles the both of us in her little arms, delighted that we will officially be a family. We will be together forever and ever. Like we always should have been. Like we always will be.

A/N

And just like that… Another one bites the dust. I feel like this has been a long time coming. I hope it was one that you all wanted and desired.

Keep a lookout for our first chapter of our special Christmas story…. A Christmas Love Story. It will begin December 14th for Our 12 days of Christmas special. There will be a new chapter posted every day till Christmas day.

Fellow readers please join me in thanking FDFobsessed.

I swear that woman is not only my ride and die sister…. But also your advocate. I swear she goes to town for each and every one of you. I swear none of these stories would be half of what they are without her.

Revised by: FDFobsessed

Like always, happy reading everyone, be safe and stay healthy,

Trini