Epilogue

/ˈepəˌläɡ/

noun

a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened

"Oh my God, Luke!" Melissa exclaimed as she walked into the brightly colored building with a smile upon her face. I glanced back at Moira, making sure that she had Thomas were okay, to which she simply nodded and shooed me on as if telling me that it was alright to be ahead of them and by Melissa's side whenever she entered the facility.

It had been a whole year since Melissa and I had gotten married, and despite our wishes to be a couple for a time before we adopted our child, Melissa had been insistent on adopting a child that was freed due to the system's crash, which made it a bit hard for us to wait any longer than a year to adopt a small child.

After placing our name in the hands of several orphanages and in dozens of waiting lists, we had finally received a call from the colorful building that we were standing within in that moment. Melissa had been ecstatic when she answered the phone and was greeted with an elderly woman's voice saying that there was a child fitting our description at the Sandy Oaks Children's Home.

Within the hour, Melissa had made me and Moira pack all of the necessities and drive half an hour away to the small building in order to meet the child she already referred to as 'my little angel.' Even though her excitement was endearing, I couldn't help but feel a bit scared as to how the moment of meeting would turn out, not to mention the papers that would have to be filled out.

Yet, as I stood in the warm yellow waiting room of the home, waiting for the young and unnamed child to be brought out to us, I couldn't help but get excited and begin bouncing on my heels in anticipation for the child to finally be in front of me. All the same, Melissa was practically bouncing off the walls when a waddling Thomas and stressed out Moira walked into the room.

I was asking myself if the child would be a boy or girl, whether they would have dishwater or platinum blonde hair, how old would they be, or why were they not claimed in the past year? While Melissa and I had stated that we wanted a child who looked like us, mostly due to her fascination with having a child that appeared like me than anything else, we hadn't specified anything beyond that which left almost everything open.

When the nurse walked in with a little pink blanket, my eyes went wide, observing how careful she was being with the small child. Despite being prepared for a five year old kid to walk through the doors, I practically cried when I saw the bundle of blankets approach Melissa and I. Melissa was the first to hold her, my head poking over her shoulder to look at the beautiful girl.

Although I knew she was not Melissa's daughter, I couldn't help myself from feeling as though she most definitely was. Between the shape of her nose and the way she stretched out her arms extremely wide when she yawned, I was convinced that she was an exact duplicate of her mother, causing me to be completely enamored by her.

I could feel Melissa's eyes look over at me as if she were asking me a question, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the precious little girl. Her eyes opened for the first time since she came into the room and she stared at me for a few moments before tilting her head to the side in integument. I half expected her to begin crying but she was quiet and still for the entire time.

"Luke?" Melissa spoke again, this time breaking me out of my reverie as I stared at her as though I had just seen an angel. She appeared the exact same way, holding back tears as she nodded furiously and that was all the confirmation that I need to nod at the nurse so that she would get a legal representative to bring in the paperwork.

The small angel could not have been more than six months old as she appeared to be extremely small and tired. Both traits made my heart soar as I held out my finger to compare to hers, and within a few moments, she had it gripped in hers and was pulling it toward her with a smile covering her extremely cute features.

I smiled back at her, not knowing if the feeling would ever feel real as I was hypnotized into her icy eyes that were almost exactly like my own except for the ring of grey that went around the outside of them that reminded me of Melissa in too many ways. Her eyebrows were easily seen as they appeared to be a bit more golden than her hair which was platinum blonde against her pale skin.

"I want to see her!" Thomas yelled out, getting out of Moira's grip and running toward us as any other three year old would. Moira shouted after him but she was already too late as he approached Melissa with a slight pout on his face. Young Thomas looked far too much like Calum for Melissa to say no to him as she bent down to allow him a view of her.

His eyes widened in awe as he reached out to touch her before flinching back, hoping that he wouldn't hurt the precious angel lying in my beautiful wife's arms. She laughed slightly at his antics, allowing him to stare at the child a bit more before he once again reached out to touch her and was shocked that she was a real human being.

"I'm going to be your big brother," he whispered to her, earning laughs from all of us as we knew that they would only be cousins but who were we to break the young child's heart. He bit his lip in concentration each time that his hand connected with her skin as though she were a piece of glass and he was trying to make sure she would never break.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," he told her softly, watching as she opened her eyes at the statement before reaching out and gripping his finger. Had I not known any better, I would have thought that she understood his statement and was challenging him to keep that promise throughout their entire lives.

"Melissa and Luke Hemmings?" a woman asked, causing both Lissa and I to look up quickly and meet the elderly woman's kind eyes with petrified glances as though she would take the beautiful baby girl away from us. "I just need you to fill out these forms while we get her squared away in the infirmary with shots."

I released a deep breath, looking over at Melissa who looked that she was about to cry from the realization that we would get to take that precious angel home with us that day. My fingers ran through her blonde hair that appeared to be bleached out from the summer's sun beating down on it so much while we built Moira's identical log cabin next to the one Ashton had built a year and a half before.

The young child was taken away from us while we followed the elderly woman to the back of the room and into her office in order to fill out the necessary paperwork in order to take home our beautiful baby. The office was filled with a simple desk and three chairs, one behind the desk and two on the other side for the parents.

"So the first order of information is briefing you on the child's past," she stated, pulling out a large manila folder from her cabinets that were built into the desk. When it was placed onto the desk, I estimated it to be about ten inches in thickness, resembling the folder that we kept under lock and key in our house about Melissa.

Lissa appeared to be following my train of thought as her eyes widened and her breath caught in the back of her throat before looking at the woman with anxiety written all over her face. However, the woman quickly assured us that the girl was a 'normal' citizen and in no way connected through the White Coats through heritage.

"However, the child was selected at a young age for scientific testing due to her family's history of fraternal twins," she started, moving her hand in reference to the file as if to say that those experiments were the reason for the large amount of information lying before us. Melissa's hand moved over to clutch my own as though she were reliving her past and I gently squeezed back in comfort.

"I understand if this complicates your decision to adopt the child," the woman stated, looking sympathetic of our situation ; however, she appeared to be shocked at both mine and Melissa's head shakes as we both affirmed our decision to adopt the young girl. The agent nodded her head before going on to list the many restrictions that were to be made for the girl.

Small things such as exercise restrictions for the next few months and the required doctor's appointments that we would have to keep up with filtered through my mind as I paid close attention to all of the information being hurled in my direction. As I pictured the young girl and how comfortable she was lying in Lissa's arms, I completely forgot about the hassle of all these things and felt more than willing to do everything for the angel.

"What's her name?" I asked, interrupting the agent as she spouted off random medical facts about my soon-to-be daughter. My heart ached as the woman shook her head, moving her glasses down from her face to address Melissa and I head on in the issue of the young girl not having a name and the other sad facts that she had not informed us of.

"Your daughter, despite being one year old, does not have a name as she was not permitted to have one within the testing center." A gasp came from Melissa's mouth and her hand moved quickly to her mouth in order to make the sound a bit more dim but it still echoed in my mind as I felt tears brim my eyes at the realization that Lissa and I would get to name our baby girl.

"Therefore, before you leave we will need you to fill out an official name form for public records and your adoption paperwork," she stated with her hands crossed in front of her as though she were ready to leave us within the room at the sign of our distress; however, those signs never came as Melissa and I took each tiring moment in our stride.

I locked eyes with Melissa, noting the look in her blue eyes that told me she thought we had struck gold in finding the young girl. Tears flooded my eyes as I simply nodded in agreement to her silent statement. The worker seemed confused when she saw my tears but was quickly reassured when Melissa once again spoke up.

"We know what we want to name her," she spoke with such control but I knew better than to think she was not crying tears of joy within her soul. All of those nights that we had discussed baby names finally came into use as she sat there with a wide grin taking over her face as though she were replaying all of her memories in her head as I was in that moment.

"That's great!" the woman exclaimed as she pulled out a form and began to fill in the top information before looking back up at us when she reached the portion that required the name. "What would it be?" In that moment, my heart stopped beating for a split second as I was taken back to those moments in my life that made that one crystal clear.

"Lukey!" the young blonde shouted from across the yard as I chased after her in my nine year old frame. She was beautiful in her blue jean overalls and white sneakers that she had recently bought but were already covered in grass stains; however, my aunt and uncle could not have cared less about the girl's inability to keep things clean.

"I'm going to get you!" I yelled out, finding her laugh to be the most pure thing that I had ever heard in my life as I was at odds against myself as to whether I wanted to keep chasing after her and hear those giggles or catch her and hear her girly screams fill the small field that we had as a backyard in our temporary home.

"Cynthia! Luke! Time for dinner!" my aunt yelled from the sliding door on the patio, laughing lightly at our positions as she closed the door and went back to the stove to finish turning off the appliance. I pouted slightly while Cynthia ran past me toward the house in a fit of giggles, looking over her shoulder to get one last glimpse of me before she entered the house.

"Come on Lukey!" she shouted in that easily recognizable and enthusiastic tone that I never knew I would grow to miss. That was when the door slid shut and I began running toward it only to have the vision fade away from me and leave me wallowing in those loving moments when I still had my younger sister by my side.

"Cynthia," Melissa began, watching as the woman filled in the first name position before she went on to the middle name that we had spent hours deciding upon. "Riley Rose." The woman stopped, looking up at both of us with an accusing look upon her features as though she couldn't believe what we were doing.

"You do realize that you are giving you child two middle names, right?" she questioned, causing me to roll my eyes and mentally applaud her for being able to count; however, Melissa stayed calm and simply nodded her head as though to tell her that she realized and that was what we wanted. "Alright," the elderly woman stated as she went back to writing the names before stopping once again.

"And Hemmings for the last name," Melissa stated, squeezing my hand as she looked over at me with love flooding her eyes at the thought of us having our own daughter. She bit her lip in excitement while I moved in closer to place a peck on her cheek, internally applauding her for her strength in the entire process.

"Let me make sure I have this correct," the woman stated before looking at both of us with patient eyes as though she were willing to change anything if we decided against it at any point. "I have that you, Melissa Bea Hemmings, and your husband, Luke Robert Hemmings, wish to adopt the young child who will be named Cynthia Riley Rose Hemmings."

I nodded instantaneously, a proud smiling covering my face as I watched the woman place a stamp of authenticity on the sheets of paper before flipping them on the table and asking both Melissa and I for our signatures in order to file it away. Never before in my life had I signed a document so quickly as I filled in my name on each sheet of paper first and then passed it to my wife to sign.

"Congratulations to you both," she stated as she gathered her papers and stood from her seat with her hand out to shake ours. "Your copies should be in the mail within a few days," she told us as she finished with her formalities and began walking for the door, which opened while she was a few feet away as the same nurse as before came in holding our precious daughter.

"My beautiful angel!" Melissa said in a high voice as she quickly approached the child and wrapped her arms around the blankets and held them close to her chest as though she would never get the chance to do it again. I let out a silent chuckle as I took the complimentary diaper bag from the nurse who offered her congratulations before leaving the room as well.

"Here," Melissa finally said, looking over to me as she adjusted the child in her arms before continuing on, "you take her while I go help Moira with Thomas and get the car seat all ready." I simply nodded at her, taking our darling daughter from her arms while she gripped the diaper bag off of my shoulder and began carrying it outside.

I followed her until we reached the steps of the orphanage, deciding that Cynthia and I would just stay there until the girls and Thomas were ready to go. When I finally glanced down at the child though, I caught her eyes as they bore into mine with the same intensity that I saw in Melissa's and my own when we were passionate about something.

Little bubbles formed around her mouth as she made small noises. Happily, I wiped the spit away with a small rag that had been provided with the blanket and began to lightly bounce her as Melissa had been doing before she handed the precious girl over to me. My heart melted at her innocent appearance, hoping that for once I could protect something and keep it safe.

"I promise that I will always protect you, Cyn," I whispered to her, watching as she pulled her eyebrows in, noticing the change in my facial expression most likely. "I will be such a good dad, and you will always be my beautiful baby girl." A toothless grin appeared on her face as I leaned in closer to place butterfly kisses upon her cheek.

"So this is what happiness is like?" I heard Melissa speak up from beside me as she approached me and Cynthia. My smile expanded at the sight of my beautiful wife as I leaned down to Cynthia and whispered that her mommy was coming before tilting the bundle of joy down a bit to see Lissa approach with a face splitting grin eating her face.

After we climbed into the car and placed Cyn into her car seat, Melissa was leaning against my chest in hopes to catch a bit of a break while Moira drove us back to the house. Thomas was busy looking into the back where we all were in hopes to entertain Cyn despite her car seat facing the opposite way. I had to admit, the kid had dedication to the big brother role.

"I love you," Melissa suddenly spoke up, her hand caressing my cheek that still held a bit of stubble on it from my lack of shaving. I grinned slightly at her, placing a kiss on top of her head before pulling back and responding to her words of love that never failed to light my heart up like a Christmas tree.

"And I love you my queen."

•••

•••

By the time that Thomas had turned five, Moira, Melissa, and I had the separate house built and finished so that they were able to finally have a house of their own and not have to consistently get upset about the two different households being bunched together; however, the move did not go over well with Cynthia and Thomas as they had been conjoined at the hip since those two years before when we adopted our sweet princess.

As time went on, we were able to convince both of the children that it was alright for them to not live within the same house and that they would be more than able to spend time together as he was only moving a few feet away. At that time, Cynthia was three and just learning how to walk around since she had been a bit behind on her learning from the testing that had been performed on her as a child.

On top of being behind in life experiences, Melissa and I had been devastated when we heard that our young daughter was about six months behind in her growth due to her nutrition difficiencies, making it hard for her to even learn how to crawl as her muscles were unable to support her skinny frame while she would toddle across the floor.

Although we had been experiencing the bad and tended to focus on it as her diet and exercise regiments needed intense supervision from both of us as parents and a medical professional, there was also good to it like the first time that she took Thomas' hand and ran across one of the many fields surrounding our house like it was no big deal-that was when she was four.

Despite being behind previously, Melissa and I had done everything to catch her up to other children her age both mentally and physically as we would always run around and do things with her like hiking and camping out in the woods. Other days we would spend inside and doing school work in order to get her mind up to speed with the other children, which proved not to be as hard as we thought.

Cynthia was beyond blessed in terms of education, requiring no more than an example before she was able to complete a problem and retain the information. Melissa was smiling like an idiot when this first happened, turning toward me and stating that she obviously got that from her mother, to which I simply pouted and tried to look offended.

Nothing seemed as though it could get better as we all coexisted within the same area of our plantation, using the common ground between us to build a swingset for the young children and helping them up the ladders and steps in order to reach the top and slide down the bright yellow slide that I had purchased from within the city.

Since we had a previous system of government to go off of, the schools and postal systems around the country were quickly organized and built to a high standard merely years after the collapse of the old government, which made all of us adults extremely happy because we knew that our children would never have to go through what we did.

Each day that passed led to more crazy antics from both of the children, Thomas acting more and more like his father everyday while Cynthia took on Lissa's daredevil behavior and consistently got hurt trying to impress her older cousin that she had always referred to as her older brother despite being told that he was not numerous times.

We were all one big happy family, always looking out for each other as we went along with life and watched the world change for the better each day that passed. Each year that went by led to all of us visiting the graves of our friends, taking the children when they wanted to come with us and explaining why those people were no longer in our lives.

Despite Calum's lack of involvement in any of Thomas' life, it never ceased to amaze me that each time we went to the graves Moira would point to Calum's plot and whisper how much his dad loved him into his ear with a small peck landing upon his cheek. Although he would always smile, the pain in his eyes was obvious as he realized that he would never meet his dad.

Likewise, Melissa would explain why Cynthia had the same middle name as one of the graves' first names. Our little girl was attached to the grave of Riley ever since, recounting stories of her day and constantly reminding Riley that even though she wasn't around that she would always be her aunt.

Needless to say, those moments were bittersweet and tear jerking for me, especially when Thomas noticed Michael's grave and came up to me as opposed to his mother a few days after we had been to the miniature cemetery, asking me why he had the blonde haired man's name within his own, referring to Cynthia as an exhibit as to why he thought that was the case.

Although I loved explaining all of our friends' lives to the kids, it was those questions that caught me off guard and caused me to cry while explaining them for the simple fact that I was still reeling from their turmoil despite happening over three years beforehand. Yet each time that I would loosen and speak about Michael, Thomas' eyes would light up and he would listen intently, which made all of my pain worth it.

I had never thought about my life that way before I had to tell the kids those things, realizing that all of the pain I had to endure in my life had been worth it because I was stronger for my child because of that. Due to all those stresses, I was able to look those kids in the eye and tell them that they do not need to worry because I am not worried.

All of those horrid war stories happened so that I was able to look at my daughter's skinned knee without thinking that she would pass out from blood loss. The times that I had spent in agony would be of use when my daughter met her first boyfriend and needed her daddy there to help mend the pieces when they were broken.

The time I had mourned my best friends would be of use when Thomas needed to know it was okay to let a few tears fall-that he was still a man even if he was able to feel some type of pain in his heart. Losing my younger sister was a way to remind me that all things could be taken away any moment, leading me to spend as much time with my child and nephew as I could before time ran out.

Everything that had happened to me had a purpose and I could only hope that their purpose was to only make my child and nephew into better people in the long run because that was what I was using it for.

"I love you," Melissa's voice suddenly said from behind me as I rocked our passed out five year old baby girl and eight year old nephew on my knees in the rocking chair in the middle of their conjoined rooms for when he would spend the night, which was often. The gray walls were laced with princesses and fairies on one side while the other held cars and superheros just as Thomas requested.

I looked up at her with a look of pure happiness taking over my features. Despite our long relationship, I had never felt as much happiness in my life as I did in that moment as I watched my beautiful wife smile down at me, our beautiful daughter, and nephew. Everything was beyond perfect as I took her hand in mine and placed a loving kiss on the back of it.

"Thank you for all of this," I whispered back to her, loving the way that I had two light bodies on my own while my wife held me close to her by wrapping an arm around my neck. "I love you so much," I continued on, looking up at her with tears in my eyes as she simply wiped them away and took Thomas' frame to put him in his race car bed while I placed Cyn in her Cinderella carriage bed frame that I had welded only a few years back.

"They really are beautiful," she whispered into my ear as we exited the room and gently pulled the door closed so that we could spend some time together before they woke up from their naps. I chuckled faintly as I pulled her close to me, placing a kiss upon her head.

"Not as beautiful as you, my love."

The End

Author's Note:

Thank you all for your love and support throughout the time making these books. I really hope that one day I will find time to write again like I have before and stay consistent on my update schedule like I promise. I'm taking a break, possibly indefinitely from Wattpad and writing fiction in general, but I just want you all to know how thankful I am and how happy I am to have shared this journey with you.
-dani❤️