The Unbroken

Epilogue

The clear sky above glistens from the afternoon sun, glowing brightly over the fun moment everyone is indulging themselves within. Perfectly chilled waves continue to roll over my feet while witnessing the chaos my family is reaping over the miles of golden sand. It's peaceful out here, when we finally find time to spend time away from the chaotic lives we've found ourselves living.

Lately, Alexis and I are lucky to get five hours of sleep. It's mainly myself struggling to find time to relax since I have a lot more going on. I'm constantly making sure she gets more rest than I do otherwise she doesn't function properly, plus I'm a protective woman that wants what is best for her partner.

Observing all of my precious ones, I subconsciously fiddle with the black box sitting in the pocket of my shorts. The snapping as it opens and closes satisfies the nerves mumbling in my mind. For a year I have been planning this precise day in detail, wanting to make it as memorable as possible.

Competing against the timing of boring meetings arranged by other packs; planning around the training sessions I've been arranging for the pack now that they are starting to find their confidence again; considering days for everyone's birthdays and anniversaries when I have numerous people in my life. It often seems as though I have no time for myself or my family that has been growing non stop.

All evidence I've created in preparation for today's hopefully spectacular events has been concealed at the back of my sky high filing cabinet. It is a source of organisation that I know my Lex won't go near due to my obsessive needs for order, as well as business matters constantly giving her a headache. She wasn't built for professionalism unlike me who was born into it with the natural instinct from inheritance.

My heart is thumping, digging out a way of escape to run from the anxiety poisoning my jittery body. It is amusing that I am the supposedly confident one in the relationship even though I'm nobbling on my lip incessantly until it is peeling off the thin skin to allow blood to seep through.

All of me knows that the only way this will ever happen is if I am the one to take the leap, because she will never be able to fight off the insecurities to do it herself. Her courage may have grown vastly in the last six years, but she is always a scared puppy at heart. I love her even still, I know how to bring her out of the safe shell she hides in while also balancing us out with my own ability to deny apprehension.

Glancing back out to the larger waves, I can watch the kids playing alongside our family, as crazy as ever. Ame and Ash have spent the last hour chasing Josh and Carter across the beach in an attempt to wrestle them to the ground with the strength that is forever growing.

Anyone outside of our group would be scared of the two five year olds that can lift a boulder with ease despite only being four foot tall, but not those two idiots. Instead of running for their lives, they let them determinedly sprint after them with menacing growls. The two trouble makers have given me dozens of near heart attacks in their early years, growing more frequent the older they get. I've lost count of the number of hours spent searching for them just to find them napping on the house's roof after watching the sun set.

Meanwhile, Dylan and Micah are contently building a sandcastle a few yards away from me. They have become almost inseparable these days. As soon as they are in the same room, you cannot tear them away from the other without Dyl having a tearful seizure. It is growing increasingly painful to keep them apart. So we've been trying to get them together as much as possible, however this time it couldn't be avoided.

Four months apart has almost killed us. The first month was manageable, after that, he couldn't sleep and couldn't be consoled. Leah and I resorted to letting them video call every night until they pass out, as well as letting them stay together every time school finishes for Micah.