Little Things

Epilogue

I smoothed my sweaty palms down the front of my colorful shift dress and took a deep breath. I looked out at the sea of faces before me and locked eyes with a familiar one, green eyes shining and dimples showing as he offered me a soft smile. He was surrounded by five similar looking faces, all giving me the same smile.

I took another deep breath before beginning, "First, I'd like to thank all of you for joining Harry and I tonight. It means the world to us to see all of our family and friends in one place."

Harry smiled at me again and urged me to keep going with the speech I'd been practicing religiously for two weeks. Consolidating twenty-five years of marriage and twenty-eight years together into a speech was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I'd wanted it to be perfect.

"I met Harry when I was eighteen years old. I'd stumbled into him one night while I was out with some girls I knew and from then on we were in each other's lives. We made it through a lot of different things; time apart while he was touring or I was getting help, a miscarriage, car accidents, crazy ex-boyfriends, fights, and moving across the Atlantic Ocean with a ten-month-old and another baby on the way. But we always came out on top, and I think we always came out stronger as a result.

"Being married to Harry has been the adventure of a lifetime. Getting to raise our children together has been beautiful. He was a natural from the start with Elizabeth. Seeing him teach Matt, Noah, and Jacob how to be men and seeing him teach Elizabeth and Caroline how a man should treat them has been incredible. Harry has taught our children to be kind to everyone, no matter what. He's taught me the same lesson every day I've known him.

"Harry, thank you. Thank you for everything you are, and everything you've done for me and for our family. Thank you for the best twenty-five years of my life. Here's to twenty-five more with you. I love you," I said, tears falling out of my eyes and onto the paper in front of me. Everyone raised their glasses and toasted to us. I stepped off the stage and almost ran to Harry, who even in his older age looked just as beautiful as he did the day I met him.

"I love you so much, Sara," Harry whispered, holding my face in his hands.

"I love you more," I whispered back. Harry gently placed his lips on mine, earning a chorus of "awws" from everyone around us.

I broke away from the kiss and took a good look at my beautiful family. Elizabeth was turning into such a beautiful, graceful woman. After she'd turned twenty-five, she got a job in Los Angeles as some high-power attorney and was living there with her boyfriend.

Matthew, or Matt as he ended up preferring, was twenty-four and was practically Harry's twin in every possible way. He was just as kind as Harry had always been and had that same smile and twinkle in his eyes. Matt was on his way to becoming a pediatrician and was living in London not too far from where Harry and I were.

After having Matt, Harry and I waited a while before we had another baby. He was busy touring and promoting his first solo album which was absolutely incredible. I was busy trying to expand my online shop into an actual store while balancing taking care of two little ones.

Noah William was born when Matt was seven. He made an early arrival, which sent Harry and I into a frenzy of worry. He was born six weeks early, but ultimately ended up being a healthy boy. He was seventeen and was hoping to study business when he left for uni.

Jacob Nathaniel was another surprise baby. He was born three years after Noah and was a fourteen-year-old ball of energy. He definitely kept Harry and I on our toes, always finding a way to get into trouble. Noah kept him in check, though, and tried to make him more helpful around the house instead of letting him hole up in his bedroom to play video games.