~~Five beautiful years later~~
"Steele!" I scold the little boy. "Be nice to your sister. Dad is going to be home any minute and you know how much he hates it when you guys fight."
I hear the door to the apartment shut. "Your mother is right," Sam walks into the room and gives me a kiss. "Now what are we fighting about this time?" Sam sits against the couch in between the two children.
I smile knowing he's got this taken care of so I head to the kitchen to finish dinner.
"Charlotte took my Captain Boomerang action figure!" Steele complains.
"I just wanted to play," little Charlotte says innocently.
"Well did you ask to play?" Sam asks Charlotte.
"No, she just came and took him," Steele grunts. He crosses his arms over his chest. Man he is just like his father. Yup, that's right. Sam and I finally decided on a name. It took a week, but we decided on Steele Matthew Coulter after Eric's and his own steel grey eyes.
"Charlotte you can't just take Steele's toys without asking," Sam tells her.
"I'm sowwy," she pouts. This is about the time that I step in. Charlotte has Sam wrapped around her little finger. So I usually step in to be the bigger man.
"That's okay sweetheart, just remember to ask next time," he kisses her cheek. "And Steele, if she ever does take your toys, just ask nicely for her to give them back okay?" Sam ruffles Steele's blonde hair.
Well that wasn't too bad.
"Okay Dad," he starts to laugh when Sam rubs his scruffy neck in the crook of Steele's to tickle him. "Dad!" Steele squirms around.
Sam has Steele pinned to the ground in a playful manner when Charlotte joins in. She hops on her daddy's back when he cries out jokingly, "Oh no! I'm being attacked! Help me!"
"Sh!" I whisper yell from the kitchen half laughing. "You're gonna wake Flynn!"
And then comes the crying.
"Oops," Sam tilts his mouth in a half frown. "Sorry Soph. I got it," he jogs to our bedroom before I can.
"Come on you two. Dinner's ready," I tell my children.
Sam comes walking back into the kitchen with little Flynn in his arms. His hair is ruffled and there's a big smile on his face. You would never know he was just crying.
"Look who's up," Sam's playful voice dances through the air. He smiles down at the little boy who laughs when Sam kisses his cheek.
"Here I've got his high chair," I pull it into its spot against the table.
Steele and Charlotte take their seats too. As Sam puts Flynn in his chair, I hand out the plates of food, giving the smallest to the kids, the medium sized to me, and of course the larger one to Sam.
I've got blueberries for my one year old. It seems to be the only thing he'll eat at the moment.
It's a normal night. After Sam gets home from work I always have dinner ready. Sam tells funny stories to the kids who laugh and laugh until their bellies hurt and they can't eat anymore.
He's so great with them. It's so great how life can turn out to be so good sometimes.
I've got a handsome 5 year old son, Steele Matthew Coulter. He's a big ball of energy and character. He reminds me so much of his father. The grey eyes, the blonde hair that's shaved on the sides, the attitude, his stubbornness. Not one day goes by where I don't think of Eric because I've got this mini me of him that I have the joy of raising every day.
And then there's 3 year old Charlotte Briauna Hunter. She's a gorgeous little thing. She has her father's subtle blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Being Sam's first blood kid and his first girl, they have this tight bond. She is one sassy but sweet daddy's girl.
Lastly I had Flynn Jackson Hunter. He too has Sam's blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. He was born a little over a year ago. Flynn can't talk much yet, a lot of babbles but he's said Mama and Dada. He's one hell of a flirter, too. He knows he's cute and he works it for the nurses when I take him to get his check ups. Watch out for Flynn, ladies.
Sam and I got married right before I had Charlotte. It was a very very small wedding. Neither of us really had anyone to invite but I knew there would be people who would go nuts if we didn't invite them.
So we simply invited our fellow leaders, a few nurses, Anna, Jake and their two kids and that was it. I asked Lauren if she would hold Steele during the ceremony. I had grown very fond of Lauren. She and I bonded well.
The ceremony was short and sweet. The simple vows, the 'I Do's', the kiss. I wore beautiful ball gown, mainly because it hid a lot of my belly bump. Sam wore a classic black tux.
Surprisingly Sam only cried as I walked down the aisle. I, however, cried walking down the aisle, during the vows, during the 'I Do's', and walking back down the aisle after we had been officiated.
It made sense to me though. I was about to marry my best friend. There were many other times I had been proposed to and thought that this was going to happen for me. It was a symbol that I made it through and I had someone to celebrate with.
"You kids eat up. You wanna grow big and strong like your mom right?" Sam smiles crookedly and winks at me. The kids giggle and nod in response.
Sam's got a good heart. I know he would never let anything happen to this family.
We both support the family by being leaders of Dauntless along with Tris, Four, and Lauren. We all work really well together.
Dauntless is back to being crazy ol' Dauntless and it has been for a couple years now.
Speaking of a couple years, after Eric's death I had him cremated. I thought I wanted to keep his ashes but I got a better idea. I poured his ashes into the chasm exactly one year after he was released from life support.
I thought it would be best if his spirit flowed through Dauntless. At once he was leader and Dauntless depended on him. Eric helped with our attack, the main reason Dauntless is back to normal and in safer hands. It only seemed right.
"Thank you for dinner, sweatheart," Sam kisses my temple and clears the dishes.
"You're welcome," Charlotte answers. We all laugh at her cute reply. Sweetheart is Sam's nickname for her so I guess we should've seen that coming.
"Yeah, thanks sweatheart," Steele follows Sam's actions and kisses my cheek. I raise my eyebrows in surprise and can't help but laugh at him.
"You are welcome," I pull him in for a big kiss on the cheek.
Flynn starts babbling next to me and I turn to look at him with surprise written across my face.
"You're welcome Flynn," I respond to him.
It's weird to have this nice, peaceful life. I haven't been this happy in a very long time. Sam tells me that all the time. He says, "You have that twinkle back in your eye," or "It's nice to see you happy again."
It's true. If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's never hold onto something for too long. Sometimes it hurts worse to hold on than it does to let go.
That's the beauty about family. Sam and I love each other and we respect each other. We also love our children. Our children are what keep us going. They keep life interesting.
I had to learn when to let go the hard way. After months of holding onto Eric, I found it was more painful everyday, feeling attached to him and see his unconscious body than it was to let him go, knowing he was put out of his misery. I knew Eric was still with me in spirit. He always will be.
"You alright?" Sam asks. He steps beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulders to pull me closer into his side.
"Yeah," I smile. "Just thinking of Eric."
An awkward smile comes across his lips. Before he can open his mouth to say anything Steele says, "Who's Eric?"
I give Sam a nervous look but he looks as calm as ever. He squats down to Steele's level and says, "An old friend. You'll learn about him one day."
OMG this is it friends! Not a very exciting epilogue, I know, I'm sorry. But I thought it'd be nice to just have a peaceful day. I thought I should just keep it short and sweet. No surprises no nothing.
Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive throughout this book! I loved reading all the comments. They always put a smile on my face.
I'm sure you've figured out the picture is Sam and Sophia's cute family. Took me a long time to find the right children but I did lol.
I've been asked a couple times if I have any other works. I am currently working on one right now but I haven't published any of it cause I wanted this book to be my main priority.
The book is called 'Blue Eyes' and it's a normal story... it has nothing to do with Divergent, I know, so sad. But I need a break from that right now and I'll come back to it once Blue Eyes is done.
I really do hope you guys enjoyed this story. I've grown so much since Chapter 1 and you can see it. My chapters have been 3× as long since then.
Thank you again to all of you supporters! You guys rock!! Thanks for voting, commenting, and sharing! Bye!