Quarter - The Final Installment In The Adeena Cole Series

Epilogue

Levi reminds me of Eric in every way. 

There isn't a trace of me in him. He's all blond hair and blue eyes and quiet personality, only smiling at Shima or the ocean as it breaks against the hull. 

Shima is just as young as he was sixteen years ago. He hasn't changed at all -- well, he can now look at blood without flinching, and he's somewhat adopted our sensible way of fashion, but he's still Shima. Which means Levi had two horrid influences growing up -- me, his mother, and Shima, his older brother. 

I'm thirty-four. Eric is thirty-nine and he's just as handsome, which I tell him often because I'm such a lovely person and I like laughing at his blush. 

"What are you writing?" Levi asks me, dropping to sit on the floor beside me. Shima isn't far behind, appearing suddenly behind me and nearly causing me to drop my notebook. 

"I'm writing about how much I hate tomatoes," I lie. "What're you writing, love?" 

He took a peek at the cover of my book. "Jackie's Not-Diary. You really...have a diary?"

I waved it in his face. "Baka! It says clearly, Not-Diary. Therefore it is not a diary --" 

Shima sighed mockingly and rested his chin on my shoulder, peering at me with large, acidic eyes. "You're applying that cliche? That's used so often in modern day fiction I'm quite sick of it." 

"Shima, you smart, informed bastard," I said, "Back away or I will slap you with a chair." 

He backed away, hands raised, because he knew I would do it.

Levi had privileges. He was allowed to lean into me because I was his mother and he was growing up too fast so I had to cherish that sort of innocence while I could -- he was fifteen already. Exactly Shima's physical age, I'd been informed. "Mom, it's okay. You don't have to hide from us."

"You hang around him too much," I jerked a thumb at Shima. "You're him with Eric's voice -- I'm terrified now." 

Levi cracked a rare smile and stood, joining Shima who had done the same. His grin grew as his eyes landed on the Shinigami. "Let's get back too --"

Shima frantically shushed him. "No, it's a secret! See ya, Jackie!" He grinned and saluted me before grabbing Levi's hand and pulling him along. The two were already involved in an animated conversation. 

"You're writing in a diary?" 

"Eric!" I shrieked, jumping up and hiding the notebook behind me. Then, on second thought, I held it to his face, jabbing a finger at the title. "Can't you read? Not-Diary!"

He smiled softly and pushed it out of his line of vision. "I think it's cute." 

I backed away, flushing. "It's a diary, then..." 

He chuckled, eyes drifting over my head to watch Shima and Levi head toward the stairwell leading below decks. "They're still holding hands." 

I followed his gaze. A strange, protective instinct rose within me. "Maybe I should hit Shima with a chair..." 

Eric took my hand before I could do that. "Well, I 'ship it', as Shima says." 

I gaped at him. "How can you ship them? Our son! With...Shima! Our other son!"

He cocked an eyebrow. "Shima isn't our son." 

I deflated. "Yeah, well...I may have deluded myself into thinking that." 

Eric hummed, leaning against the wall but not releasing my hand. He opened my fist and experimented with how many ways he could entwine our fingers. "I think he's more Cass' son than ours."

"They were close, weren't they? Before she returned to the Drunken Lady..." I mused. "Oh well -- if he touches Levi I shall chop off his head!"

"You don't mean that." 

"I don't," I nodded. "I would be happy to never see a decapitated head again."

"Why would anyone want to?"

"Cutler Beckett," I simply replied. 

"I see what you mean." 

"I'm always right." 

"Of course."

I joined him against the wall, gazing over the railing of the ship. 

I hadn't sensed anything odd about the ocean for sixteen years. 

In other words, all was as well as it could get.