Epilogue: Where Do We Go From Here?

*Thoughts are in italics*

Louise POV

That was an eventful weekend for us Belchers. Halloween came and went that Tuesday. It was Gene and Raven's last day in town. Rudy and I took Hailey trick or treating. Hailey wore her Cheshire Cat costume while I wore an orange blouse with black dress pants and black duchess boots. Rudy donned a red long sleeve shirt, a black hoody black jeans and black sneakers. After we finished taking Hailey trick or treating we went back to my parents house to watch some Halloween movies while Hailey sorted out her candy stash. Tina sent me some pictures to my phone of her and Jimmy Jr taking Jimmy the Third out trick or treating in her neighborhood. Also I may have lost my contest to Rudy but Mom won her contest 4-2. Mom won the next two games against Dad in Uno and Jenga.

I would find out later that after much discussion Tina and Jimmy Jr were going to try to have more kids. Ten days later I discovered I missed my period and found out I was pregnant. Rudy was over the moon when I told him I was expecting. At first I was apprehensive about having more kids but now I was looking forward to Hailey having a little brother or sister to play with. I grinned imagining Hailey running around with her little sister or brother. "I know she'll be a great big sister" I concluded.

Five months later (now in the year 2046) and Gene called and told me him and Raven were getting engaged. I was thrilled for Gene as he had finally found someone of his own.

Saturday March the 3rd

Gene and Raven took a plane into Seymour's Bay for the weekend to celebrate their engagement. Tina, Jimmy Jr and Jimmy the Third also came into town to join in the festivities.

*Bob and Linda's apartment living room*

*Interior*

*Around 12pm*

This is a special occasion and we all have a reservation at a fancy French Restaurant nearby that Gene and Raven booked. Everyone is wearing formal attire. I'm wearing a Hunter Green Iris One Shoulder Crepe Dress with white heels. Raven is wearing a Peacock Blue Ruched Cutout Single Shoulder dress with black heels Tina is wearing a navy blue Marissa Formal Satin Cowl Neck dress with white heels. Mom is wearing a burgundy Azure Bondi A- Line Ruffled Chiffon Dress The guys (including Jimmy The Third who is wearing a boy's version) are all wearing ties that match their jackets (various suit jackets matching in blue, black and red) and white collar shirts. Hailey is wearing a Red Little Girls Sleeveless, Pleated Mikado Fit and Flares Dress and Red Mary Jane strap shoes. All the women look quite enchanting and the men look quite dapper and Jimmy the Third and Hailey both look very cute.

Despite the merry occasion Tina was in full blown panic mode about Raven. She told me she's no good and she's only after Gene for his money and she's too good to be true. I thought Tina was fantasizing and reading too many books or watching way too many cops show or something. I told Tina I would try to listen in on Raven when she steps away from Gene and see if I can find out anything.

About an hour later Raven and Gene arrived. Raven said she had to freshen up and made her way to the bathroom. I sneaked over to the door and put a glass cup to the door to listen in. "I got them all fooled George. The whole damn family, they're a bunch of saps! Gene thinks I'm in love with him. He's a great musician but he's a bit of dim bulb if you ask me. The youngest sister made a pitiful attempt to put up a tough front. I thought she might be a problem but she was oh so easy to manipulate she might even be in love with me too, ha! The oldest sister is a writer and she's a bit out there. She's a bit of a wild card she has moments of genius and other bizarre moments where I just don't know what the hell she's thinking. Nobody suspects me at all. I think I'll take this poor sap for everything he's got!" Raven forewarned as her conversation ended. I swiftly ran back into the kitchen.

I quickly went downstairs and pulled Mom, Dad and Tina aside and presented this horrible news to them. They were shocked (Well Mom and Dad were shocked while Tina kept bitting her lip most likely to stop herself from saying I told you so; which I really didn't want to her at the time.) and saddened by the recent turn of events. While Tina, Jimmy Jr and Jimmy the Third distracted Gene with some stories about Jimmy the Third's days at school; I came up with the idea of mock congratulating Raven on her engagement by implying there will be hell to pay if Raven took advantage of Gene.

Raven came back from the bathroom a few minutes later and our conversation in the kitchen went like this. "You know Raven I want to congratulate you on your engagement. However there are some things I want to bring to your attention. One is don't judge a book by its cover. I may appear sweet but when I smell a rat I do not play around. (I walked over to her and muttered into her left ear) "If you do anything to hurt my brother I will gut you like a fish. I'm a master of dissection. Don't mess with me Raven" I heralded.

Raven stood agape for a second and then closed her mouth. "Oh boy. Where is this coming from Louise? I would never hurt your brother" Raven mock comforted me. "Don't play dumb with me sister. The game is up Raven. I know it all. You're not taking my brother for a ride and bleeding him dry. Get out of my sight you two bitt hussy. Gene is not good enough for you!" I snapped. Gene then heard the commotion from downstairs and came bolting upstairs to see what was going on.

Everyone else including all the kids gathered in the kitchen. Mom, Dad, Raven, Tina and myself looked very solemn and serious while everyone else looked very bewildered by what was going on. "Raven I heard shouting what's going on?" Gene wondered. "The engagement is off" Raven replied as she ran downstairs and out the restaurant door and into the street.

"What the hell happened?" Gene gawked mystified. We explained the whole thing the jaw dropping news to everyone else. Gene took the truth about Raven like a ton bricks; the poor guy was heartbroken. I also told Sergeant Bosco about the whole incident and mentioned that Raven said the name George on the phone. After tailing Raven and doing some digging Sergeant Boso discovered that George Bennet is Raven's con artist fiancee. Their plan was for Raven to sue for divorce from Gene and take half of Gene's estate and then reap the rewards. I bet they were planning to use a hefty chunk of Gene's money toward a lavish wedding and honeymoon.

Just hours ago Gene was looking forward to getting married and now he finds out his finance is nothing but a gold digger. "I can't believe Raven was only after my money. I thought what we had was true love. Why the hell did Robert recommend her? Was he not aware of her con or was in cahoots with her? I don't think Robert would have done such a thing he must not have know" Gene sniffled. "Next time you're going to get married Gene make sure you get a prenup. Louise can't always be around to fight off your gold digging fiancees" Tina forewarned. "I'd be happy to fight anybody off to protect Gene as long you pay me. I'll give you a family discount of course. I'm kidding about the money part. You know that right?" I adjured with a nervous chuckle trying to bring some levity to the whole fiasco as Gene only nodded silently.

"You're better off without her. But damn what a body she has." I imparted. I mumbled the but damn what I body she has part quietly to myself so nobody could hear me as I remembered how dazzling Raven looked in that Peacock blue dress she wore. "She has a nice tush too. I I think I've fallen for her… wait a minute! What is wrong with me!? She broke Gene's heart for crying out loud. I dated some girls back while studying my undergrad in college and there were a few nice ones. There was that one girl who was the short stop on the college softball team Harley Johnson. She is a little taller than me at about five seven and half. She had magic fingers and sensuous legs" I hooted to myself. I swiftly shook my head. "No, no I have to stop thinking like that. I haven't slept with women since I got my undergrad degree. I love Rudy. Ever since I slept with him for the first time I knew I never wanted to be with anyone else. I love him so much! I professed to myself with a blissful sigh.

Anyway the whole situation was also very fortuitous in that Raven idiotically spilled the beans for her plan in my parent's bathroom. I really thought she was smarter than that. Perhaps Raven was close to the end that she couldn't keep her excitement bottled up any longer and she had to call George to let that exhilaration out before she exploded. Lucky for us though Raven picked the most inopportune time (for her) to give her fiancee George the latest news on their scheme.

Gene was terribly despondent over the next few months. Luckily Raven had completed her tracks on the album before the incident and they only had a few songs left to record before they would go into the post production phase. To Gene music was his safe haven or sanctuary. While in the recording studio Gene was able to put his melancholy feelings aside and just focus on the music. Gene brought Peter and Daryl in to record the last two tracks with him just two days after his breakup with Raven. Gene's group rocked as hard as they always do. After finishing the album in California; Gene flew out to New Orleans the next day. He booked book a room at The Higgins Hotel. Gene is a huge fan of New Orleans Musical Legends Park where they have free outdoor venues and live jazz performances.

By Saturday March the 10th Gene had now been in New Orleans for a week. Gene told me of a chance meeting he had in The French Quarter that afternoon.

Gene was trying to diffuse his pent up tension and sorrows. He was drinking a glass of white wine when he was enthralled by a version of Gypsy Jazz Minor Swing ; a song which he covered on his fifth album. As soon as the song began Gene was mesmerized and overcome with feelings of nostalgia from producing his album. Gene had a feeling that his favorite violinist might in the area and he looked up from his glass of whine and a large grin formed across his face. She was here! After all these years Gene had seen Crystal again!

After Crystal finished playing her song Gene walked over to her. He was reunited with his guest violinist from said album. Crystal Woodbridge is about an inch shorter than me standing at 5 foot 4. Going by the pictures I've seen of her and Gene she's probably a little bit bustier than me but she's still a C cup. She wore a green blouse and had on a Hunter Green Lai Notch Mini Skirt and black women's classic high tops.

She looked utterly stunning with her shoulder length blond hair which was in a ponytail held in place by a hair tie. Gene told me the first thing he noticed when he saw her that day were her exquisite baby blue eyes. Gene wore a red polo shirt, black dress pants and red shoes. Gene told me Crystal was in a relationship at the time his band was making his fifth album but she was recently single as of about a year ago.

Gene applauded her performance and chatted her up. The couple went over to Gene's table and continued their conversation catching up on the last several years since Gene had last saw her. Gene later found out she was indeed still single and just finished her second solo album that was due out the following month.

That was seven months ago and it's now Thanksgiving. I gave birth to an adorable baby girl named Madelyn who is now three months old. Tina is hard at work on writing her mystery novel and is getting a different publishing company to release it once it's finished. Tina is now four months pregnant and she is due April 20th.

It's Thursday November 22nd 2046. It seems like Deja Vu almost but we're all going to get together at my parent's house for Thanksgiving. I haven't really kept in touch with my classmates from school that much. I do know that Tammy and Jocelyn moved to Chicago and work as anchors on a tv news channel based there. Andy and Ollie work as movers for a local furniture company. Zeke lives in NYC and has a girlfriend named Claire who is a chef. They're both chefs at an Italian Restaurant in Manhattan. I don't know much else about Claire.

Gene is bringing his girlfriend Crystal and I know this is going to go better than what happened at my parents back in March. I mean it can't be any worse right? No it can't be! Fingers crossed that everything goes well this holiday.

I know that break up was hard on Gene but he came out a stronger person on the other side of it. Every relationship is experience if nothing else. Meeting people is hard, dating is hard; life is hard so get a helmet! If you don't meet your significant other while you're young in school or at work it's tough to find someone. My parents met when they were in there twenty's. I was nine for God's sake when I first met Rudy.

We were a couple the last two years of high school but then we kind of drifted apart when we both started college. After I just finished my undergrad I was helping my parents shop for the restaurant at the local market and we bumped into Rudy and his Dad while there. I was very surprised to meet Rudy who had just gotten his RN and was looking for employment. After my fortuitous meeting with Rudy we rekindled our relationship and started dating again. Subsequently about a year later we became a serious couple. Most of us aren't that lucky and Gene wasn't that lucky.

But the sun and moon rise at different times. We can't go around comparing ourselves to everyone else. We'll meet our loved one when we're destined to meet that person at least that's what I'd like to think. There's someone out there for everyone and hopefully Crystal is Gene's someone. I'm looking forward to meeting Crystal. I have to go now, the self driving car is stopping outside my parent's restaurant. Bye!

The End