What He Doesn't Know {Completed}

Epilogue: At Last

UNEDITED!

***

At last
My love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song

Oh yeah yeah
At last

The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you

I found a dream, that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known

Oh yeah yeah
You smiled, you smiled
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
for you are mine...

At Last

- Etta James "At Last"

***

Three years later:

Standing on the threshold of Penny's new room, I smiled. As I watched her unpack one of the many boxes that littered her new room. "How is the unpacking going?" I asked her, as I stepped into the room, noticing that she hadn't unpacked very much.

Penny looked up at me, from the floor, and gave a deep frown, "So far I have yet to fully unpack one box." She took an item out of the cardboard box before her.

I glanced over at the cane resting on the wall next to her. "Are you in any pain?" I questioned as my sights settled on her legs that were folded Indian Style.

Two years ago, Cole and I found a doctor (after a year of endless searching) that was finally able to figure out what was wrong with Penny. Apparently she had a parasite in her; that was extremely rare and undetectable by many tests, but nonetheless it was what was causing her to be paralyzed. The doctor, after knowing what was wrong with her, was able to treat the problem. However, it wasn't a fast journey to recovery.

Since Penny had not walked in years, she still had to be in her wheelchair and taken to therapy three times a week. She graduated to a walker many, many months later. It was only a week ago that she informed Colton and I that she was going to move onto a cane.

I could never verbally explain that amount of relief and happiness I felt towards Penny. She is truly like a daughter to me, and every day I am so thrilled to have her in my life.

Sure we have our moments where we butt heads but I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Speaking of healing and getting better, Colton did end up making a full recovery from his shot wound. The bullet missed all his organs and major blood vessels. Within a matter of several weeks, he was walking around and resuming normal activities.

None of those activities included the gang though. He quit the day after getting shot and hasn't looked back on the choice since, according to him.

As for Chey, she was found and rescued hours after Colton got shot. She was, fortunately, unharmed but, as expected, shaken up. She suffered some depression and anxiety the following months. It got so bad that for a week I forced her to stay with us so I could take care of her and help her through the hard time she was facing. Colton even paid for her to go to a top dollar psychologist, which ended up helping her tremendously.

As for Tony, well he was found a couple months later hiding out a few states over. Mr. Hayes, who found out about his crimes, made sure Tony got a harsh penalty of 45 years in prison, with no chance of parole.

As for Destin, Colton says that he had made arrangements for Destin to be taken to his friends garage. Cole informed me that he did plan on punishing Destin for betraying him and setting a price on my head. However, Destin managed to escape and has been in the wind ever since. Colton has, after much argument, agreed to let Mr. Hayes and his team find Destin.

Once things settled down, Colton and I started to spend a lot more time with each other. We quickly found that with the gang in the past and no more Mr. Sharp that we actually made a fine couple.