I stopped talking long enough to pull the box out of my pocket. “I don’t know what the future holds for us, if anything at all, but I want you to have something to remind you that I will always love you.” I heard her gasp for air as I opened the top and pulled out the contents. “I tried giving you this bracelet once before, but it didn’t make it home with you. I think part of the reason was because it was incomplete. I hope now, it’s perfect. Here, take a look”

She took the bracelet from my hands and began to examine it. She intensely studied it looking for what was different. She went through each of the dangling charms ~ the guitar, the piano, the heart, the book, the angel wings, and then she saw it. I wish I could describe the look on her face as she held the butterfly charm that I had added in her dainty fingers. The tears were streaming steadily down her cheeks but she had the biggest smile on her face. Then she turned it over and read the inscription on the back ~ “Psyche”

She flew into my arms and I held her as tightly as possibly could without hurting her. “I know that you’ll always be his butterfly, and I never want you to forget that either. He and I were both lucky enough to be loved by someone as amazing as you, Angel. You now know that you don’t need either of the wings that we adorned you with to fly on your own, but they’re always here for you to remind you how much we both love you.”

EPILOGUE ~ SIX YEARS LATER

Come to Me ~ Goo Goo Dolls

SCARLETT

One thing that I’ve learned about life in my short time here is that it never goes as planned. Learning to getting up each time that it knocks you down is hard; some of us get knocked down more than others, but in my opinion, we’re the ones that are stronger in the end.

After Ash died, I truly thought that I’d never love anyone again. Even after I had come to terms with all of it and began to love myself for me, I didn’t think that I could make myself susceptible to feeling pain like that again. But when Mase showed up on my door step that morning, all of that went out the window. I realized that loving yourself is vital because only then do you realize that you deserve the love of another.

I’d love to say that he walked in that day, swept me off my feet again, and we rode off into the sunset happily ever after, but that isn’t reality, and actually it isn’t even the ending of most books anymore.

“Mommy, Auntie Andi says it’s time for us to get married,” a sweet, tiny voice interrupted my thoughts.

I turned around to see my precious daughter standing in the doorway, dressed in her light pink sundress and flip flops. Laughing, I walked over to her and picked her up. “Did Auntie Andi say that you can get married in those shoes?” She nodded her head with a big grin on her face. “Well, in that case, I’m wearing my flip flops too. You don’t think Daddy will mind do you?”

“No, Daddy and Everett have on their new black chucks. He said you’d like them,” she said with a giggle.

I rolled my eyes as I sat Ashlynn down on the ground. “I don’t care what they wear, as long as we all get to get married.” I bent down to kiss the top of her head. “Now go tell Auntie Andi that mommy will be there in five minutes.”

As she took off down the hallway, I turned around to look at myself one last time in the mirror and took a deep breath. Mase and I didn’t get to this point the conventional way, and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone else, but it was how our book had to be written in order to get the ending just right. God really doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle, and what he takes away, he repays tenfold. Not a year after Mase and I rekindled our relationship, I ended up pregnant with twins. Even though no one or nothing could ever replace Evie and Ash, I was gifted two beautiful souls that taught me about even a different kind of love than I had already experienced. Now, finally, after three world tours and two babies, Mase and I, along with with Ashlynn and Everett, were going to be one complete family.

The wedding ceremony was perfect, even with Ashlynn announcing she had to pee in the middle of the vows, and the reception was even better. I couldn’t stop smiling as I saw our friends and family eating, dancing, and having an overall great time. As the evening came to an end, Mase came up to me and grabbed my hand. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

He led me and all of the guests outside, then walked over to the event coordinator and whispered something in her ear. Returning to me, he stood behind me and circled his arms around my waist, pulling my back close to his chest. A song began playing through the outside speakers and he started singing lowly into my ear, then all of a sudden, the sky filled with butterflies… thousands of them. I stood there in complete awe, looking up into the heavens as the beautiful creatures blanketed the sky. He continued his serenade “Come to me my sweetest friend, this is where we start again…” When the song was over, he turned me around in his arms and pressed his forehead to mine. “Scarlett Alexandria Templeton, I have finally found my euphoria.”

“Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back, and reasons to stay.” ~Dalai Lama

The End