Epilogue

"Hey, babe? Can you come here a second?" I yelled, causing Damien to run up the stairs and into the bathroom.

"What's wrong? Is Pepper okay?" he said, worry written all over his features.

"Yes, hun, she's fine. I just wanted you to carry me to the kitchen," I said. "I'm hungry."

He sighed. "Come on, sweetie. I thought something was wrong."

"Sorry."

He held out his arms and picked me up bridal style. "You're so lucky I love you."

"I love you, too, babe," I said. When we got to the kitchen, he set me down and grabbed me my favorite food; steak and fries.

"Thank you," I said, digging in after he heated it up.

"You're welcome."

About an hour later, I finished eating and did the dishes before walking out into the living room.

"Mommy!" my son yelled.

"Yes, Willie?" I said, picking him up.

"Daddy is being mean to me!" he said, sticking his lip out in a pout.

"What did he do?" I looked over his shoulder and saw Damien shaking his head with a smile.

"He - get this - took my elephant! While I was sleeping with it!" he said, crossing his arms and glaring at the wall.

I chuckled. "Willie, you know that's the only way to wake you up."

He huffed. "Whatever. I want down now, Mommy."

I put him down and he ran over to Damien. "Daddy, you're mean!" he said, before running back into his room. A couple seconds later he came out with a smile on his face. "Mommy!"

I sat down on the couch and pulled him onto my lap. "What is it now, Willie?"

He looked at my stomach. "Why'd you eat my sister?"

This caused Damien and I to laugh uncontrollably. After we settled down, I talked to Willie again. "I was very hungry. I might eat you for dinner, too, if you don't apologize to Daddy."

A look of horror spread across his featured before he ran to his dad and hugged his legs tightly. "I'm sorry, Daddy! Don't let Mommy eat me!"

Damien picked him up and ruffled his hair. "She won't eat you, Will. She was only kidding."

Will gaped at me. "You're a liar, Mommy!"

I let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry for lying. Do you want to go out to eat? Maybe get some ice cream?"

His face lit up. "Yeah!"

---

After we got home, it was way past Will's bed time, so we put him to bed and soon after, he was out like a light. Damien and I went upstairs to go to bed shortly thereafter.

"Is there anyway Pepper can just be born yet?" I said. "My back hurts."

Damien sighed. "I know it does. But you can get through the pain because you're a tough cookie."

I laid down on our bed and sighed. "That feels nice."

He went to the closet and grabbed something off the top shelf.

"What's that, babe?" I said.

"It's," he said, laying down beside me, "your old diary."

I looked from him to the diary then back at him again. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I found it when you moved out. I didn't know if you wanted to keep it or not, but I decided to grab it just in case."

"Thank you." I leaned up and kiss him gently.

"Wanna write an entry together? You know, if you want to."

I nodded before grabbing two pens off the nightstand. I handed Damien one before flipping open to a blank page.

February 23rd, 2022

Dear diary,

It's me, diary. It's Betty. But I'm not alone this time. I'm with my husband, Damien. The one I told you about. He's amazing in every way.

We have two kids together. One of them is already born, and six years old, and I'm pregnant with our second. I'm very excited for her to be born. Her name is Pepper.

Will is our son. We figured that since Will made many bad mistakes in his life, and since he tried so hard to change them, we would name our son after him.

Needless to say, he was ecstatic.

Yeah. I didn't agree with it at first, but once she explained it, I understood why. It's not like we're never going to have kids again, anyway. I mean, we'll probably have like, 10 more.

Yeahhhh...No. We've agreed on five or six kids. We want a big family, but not that big.

Oh well. I'll still love them with all my heart, Betty's diary.

He proves it, too. Don't worry. And, if you've been wondering, we do write kids books together. We wrote quite a few, and they are loved by many kids everywhere.

Yep. I write books for teens, and she still does her art, something she's going to be famous for.

Yessiree. Diary, you don't need to worry about us taking care of our big family.

I think this will be her last diary entry ever. We wanted to do one together, to make it memorable.

So, I'll see you in another life, diary. Who knows, maybe someone else will find you and read about my life?

This is Betty Hamilton, saying bye for the last time.

Goodbye, diary. It was nice venting my feelings to you. In a way, I could say I love you.

So, diary, I love you, and I won't forget you.

Ever.

---

So that's it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this short story!

<3 you guys.

~ Phoebus.