The Other Swan

Epilogue

Paul had just arrived at Jared's place. It was a long walk from the house he lived in with his dad. Although, it was more so an empty house now. His dad was never really home and Paul spent so many nights with at Jared's house that he practically lived there. Soon enough, that would be changing.

It had been only a day since Rose had spent the night. The next morning after breakfast, the boys dropped Rose off at her house and say goodbye to Charlie. The two returned to their respective houses and now it was the day after that. Jared was now starting to feel really sick. His headache had shifted to fevers body tremors. So, Paul was heading over to his place to take care of him. Mikayla was working. She had long shifts which meant Jared would be alone all day.

Jared had insisted that Rose stay away so she didn't catch whatever he had. Charlie backed him up and kept the girl at home despite her protests. The only thing she had managed to do was make him chicken soup and had dropped it off in the morning.

Paul entered to find Jared on the couch shirtless and covered in sweat. Paul shook his head in sympathy and set about getting a wet washcloth to lay on Jared's head. When he returned, Jared groaned as he shifted. Paul lay the wet cloth on his forehead and moved Jared to be in a laying position.

"Have you eaten already?" Paul asked.

"Yes, as soon as Rose dropped off the soup."

Paul nodded and went through his mental checklist. "You able to keep it down?"

Jared mumbled his reply. "Yes."

"What hurts then?"

"My whole body feels like its throbbing. It's hot and now I can't cool down. Nothing helps. Please give me some good news."

Paul sat down on the edge of the couch and rested his hand on Jared's legs that were laid on Paul's lap.

"Well our place is almost finished. All we have left is to make sure the caulk in the master bathroom is drying properly and putting up borders for the back garden."

Paul and Jared were building a house. Really, it was a really large cabin. They had started making it towards the end of their junior year. It was Paul's idea since the two had wanted to move in together. Meeting Rose, they quickly learned they wanted to be with her for the rest of their lives, in whatever form that took. So they changed their cabin plan to be bigger like a house.

It had two master bedrooms and two separate bathrooms. It was on the edge of the woods near the beach so Rose would be able to visit her favorite spot. Paul had wanted to be a mechanical engineer and Jared had wanted to be the same so they had formed their plans around that. They were going to open up a car shop and they were going to build engines and help form an income by rebuilding and up keeping for all kinds of cars. They would hire the members on the res and build up a lifestyle so they could support Rose and whatever family they churned out.

Both were going to a local community college. Since their senior year was swiftly coming to a close, they had wanted to finish their house. No one knew about the house aside from a select few who helped them get contracts and supplies. Old man Quil was even helping with getting the boys set up for insurance which was cheaper for them since the local home renters insurance company was Quileute owned. Both had been saving up building for this for years, and had to fight tooth and nail to not let it slip to Rose.

They wanted it to be a surprise. It was a place meant for all of them. She of course would get to decide what she wanted but they all had already talked about what a future would look like. Rose wanted to get an english degree and to potentially become a teacher. Rose didn't know for sure, all she had established and known was that she wanted to settle down and have a family. Preferably, after she had a career to support herself with. Paul and Jared had no problems with that and made sure to build their house in a way that allowed for extensions to be put on.