Redeeming the Darkness

Epilogue - Zane

Kayne's birth was something that altered my life. I knew I was going to be a dad while Ivy was pregnant, but my universe shifted once I held her in my arms the very first time. Her hair was blonde like mine and we weren't sure she'd have gray eyes like Ivy until she was about a year old. When I look back at the pictures we took at our second wedding, I can't help but notice all the similarities there are between our daughter and us. She'd only been a few months old at the time, but anyone could tell Kayne belonged to me and Ivy.

Something none of us really saw coming was Kayne's immediate connection to my dad. He didn't get to hold her until she was nearing two months old since he'd been in rehab, but the second she was placed in his hands, it was like this cord attached her to him and nothing could sever it.

She became his little cheerleader, even before she knew that she was. Although there were times when he struggled, he was eventually able to get to a place where he felt like he was fighting for himself. That was something his sponsor stressed from the very beginning-that getting clean for anyone other than yourself was setting yourself up for failure. But he found the strength to do it and he did. I'd never witnessed my parents so happy and I refused to let any of us get back to a place where they couldn't be.

I didn't think their unhappiness was a possibility, though, because Ivy and I sold our house and moved three doors down from them. When Kayne turned five, Ivy decided she wanted to have another baby and it only took me a few months to be completely on board. I was so scared that I couldn't love another child the way I loved Kayne, but, again, when I held my son, he tilted my world with his tiny hands.

Roman's black hair and green eyes surprised us. He didn't look like anyone in our family. Brennan decided Roman looked like someone from his family. They had no record of what his parents looked like so it was very possible that Rome took after his biological grandparents that none of us ever met. Then again, there was the joke everyone seemed to enjoy about him being the mailman's kid. Ivy hated it more and more every time she heard it.

With my parents living three doors down and Sandro living right beside us, a comfortable life in Colorado became a dream come true. Ivy helped free me from something I didn't even know I needed freedom from.

I'd held on to acting for so long that I thought it was what I needed. I though if I could just get my life back to where it had been before my addiction and downfall, then I would be able to prove to the world that they had no idea what I was capable of, but when I heard Ivy singing to the kids at night, I felt on top of the world. I had no reason to prove anything to anyone outside of the four walls of my home anymore.

I still couldn't believe how much joy she took in firing Sandro. She giggled the entire time and actually jumped up and down like a little girl on Christmas Morning. He threw her in the kiddie pool when she finished firing him. He claimed she got way too much joy out of doing something so horrible. Little did he know, I'd written his recommendation for another family that had been inquiring about him, so he had a great opportunity ahead of him.

When we celebrated our five-year anniversary, we decided to do something special. Since the fifth year would have been the end of our marriage if we hadn't fallen in love, Ivy said she wanted to renew our wedding vows. She wanted to add another state to the list of states we'd been married in. Sandro got a kick out of that. So, Ivy, Kayne and I flew to Niagara Falls and I promised my wife, for the third time in front of an ordained minister, that I loved her and wanted forever with her. I told her the third time was enough because it was ridiculous how much I'd spent on marrying her every time. She just giggled and walked away.

I tried telling her no once our tenth anniversary came around, I promise I tried, but I couldn't. We ended up in Florida that time, on the beach. She wore a cute little yellow dress and Kayne and Roman were both able to be a part of that one.

When I was growing up, all I ever saw in my future was darkness I never thought I'd be free from. Even after I was free from addiction, I was too scared to open my eyes to see anything good in my life. Then this girl showed up. She was pretty annoying, and she was wilding a wrench half the size of her, but somehow her light started to invade my line of vision. It surrounded me until it was the only thing I could see. I don't know where my life would be if I hadn't met Ivy in that little hole-in-the-wall-town in Ohio. I don't know what kind of man I would have become if there wasn't a constant laughing sound in my home, on a daily basis.

I can truly say I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't fallen in love with the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

I pulled her into the darkness with me, but she clawed her way out for the both of us.