Breathing the Dead ~ H.S

Epilogue

"Hey!" I called to Harry, "Haz? We have a problem."

Harry looked down at me from where he had been keeping an eye on things from the patrol tower.

"What is it?" He called back, "Everything OK?"

"Eric's trying to get Lilly to settle down for her nap. It's not happening. Not working for me, either," I replied while rolling my eyes.

"I see," Harry chuckled, "alright. Hang in there, love. I'm coming down. My shift's practically over anyway."

"Thanks, Haz," I said with a smile as he climbed down from the patrol tower, "you've always been the best at putting her to sleep."

"I try my best," he said cheekily.

He slung his rifle over his back and wrapped his hand around my waist – and we both exchanged warm smiles before making our way back to our house.

Harry and I got married on September the 28th, 2020.

Three days after we first arrived at Lakebush.

I know, I know – we didn't waste any time. But to be honest...we didn't really want to. The very moment Vivienne told us that somebody at Lakebush could actually marry us, for us it almost felt as if we'd just been told that the apocalypse was finally over.

And suddenly...one officiant wearing a T-shirt and a pair of old sweatpants, three witnesses and two simple 'I do's later...Harry was finally my husband, and I was finally his wife.

And now, almost two years into our marriage...I'm still trying to remember that my name isn't Laura Marshall anymore.

It's Laura Styles.

All that time we spent trying so hard to think of each other as a married couple without the ability to make it official...it never felt real to us. And now that we've finally gotten someone to wed us...it still feels unreal.

But this type of unreal was so, so different.

This feeling of unreal has to be one of the best feelings in the world. It's that feeling you'd probably get if you found out you'd just won a lottery. It's that feeling you'd probably get if you ever managed to meet your favourite celebrity. It's that feeling you'd probably get if that one boy you've been crushing on for years finally asked you out to that movie.

It's that feeling that feels so amazing...and so perfect...that it feels unreal.

And that's what finally being married to Harry feels like to me.

"Oh, thank God," Eric sighed in relief as soon as he saw Harry & I enter the house, "I totally give up, Harry. I've tried everything, and I still can't get Lilly to sleep."

Harry chuckled. "Step aside, grasshopper. Watch the master at work."

Eric rolled his eyes and followed the two of us upstairs to Lilly's room – where she was spinning around in circles on her bedroom floor while flapping her arms around and giggling – her thick black curls flying behind her.

"What are you doing, then, you silly goose?" Harry asked her with an amused grin.

"I'm a bird, daddy!" She said happily, "Birds fly 'round, and 'round, and 'round and 'round and 'round!"

"Oh, you've been eating too much sugar, haven't you?" Harry cocked an eyebrow at the hyperactive four-year-old, "Have you been a sneaky little girl again, stealing some of the cookies that Pippa gave us yesterday?"