The sun beamed down on me as I walked across the mown lawn, tall conifers in every direction around me. I stepped carefully as I made my way down the rows, respectfully keeping my feet off the ground in front of the gravemarkers. There was not another soul in sight.

It was not the first time I had come, and it would hardly be the last time I made my pilgrimage here. I wanted to remember and I still missed him, connected as we had once been.

I reached the grave that I was seeking. There were a few bouquets of fading flowers on the ground that someone had left recently. I traced the carved letters of the tombstone with my fingers, before I sat down on the ground beside it. I let the sounds of birds in the air and the buzz of insects wash over me, all the while the sun warmed my skin like his proximity once had.

For long moments I stayed like that, before I spoke.

"So, everything is going well. Leo is turning four next month and he definitely knows what his birthday is this year. He's been talking of little else. Maggie is two and we're working on potty training, and we're expecting another one in about seven months."

I put my hand on my stomach. "I've been living my life like you said you wanted me to, but I still wish that you were here too. It's not fair that you're gone."

I inhaled and exhaled a number of times before I continued. "I want you to be remembered as the hero who took out the eastern threat, not for the one crime you committed against me. I remind people of that, but that's not how I remember you. You were my protector and friend, a good man who I wish had not left us. I cared about you, I hope you understood that."

I ran through my memories. I had made my peace with everything, it did not hurt, but I did feel a sort of melancholy emotion that yearned for things to have been different. I wished that Serge had survived and had found his own peace and happiness, but considering things that could not be did not change anything.

I got to my feet and brushed myself off. I picked up the flowers I had brought and the picture that Leo had drawn for "Mommy's friend". I put them both in front of the grave.

"See you, Serge," I said, wishing that I lived in a world where he could hear me.

I walked away.

* * *  *  *  *  * * *

As always, the drive to and from the territories took about a half hour, so I had ample time to think. My mind wandered through everything that had happened in the intervening years between when Serge destroyed the eastern king and the moment I was currently inhabiting. I adjusted the wheel and pressed the brake and accelerator mindlessly as I drove down the road.

I pulled into the driveway and parked the truck, before walking inside the house. The busy sound of my children shrieking met my ears. I walked into the living room to find Leo and Maggie attacking Matthias with joyful enthusiasm.

I leaned against the doorway and watched them playing. Matthias half threw Leo up into the air and my son shrieked in ear-piercing joy.

"Me too!" shrieked Maggie and Matthias obliged. She giggled and kicked as he faked dropping her before slowing to set her on the ground.

Leo leapt onto Matthias's back with a war cry.

I grinned.

"Get Mommy!" Leo said, pointing at me as he thwacked his father with a pillow.

"I can't, Mommy will kick my butt," Matthias informed our son, winking in my direction before turning his attention to another play attack on our son.

"Darn straight," I agreed.

Both our kids began attacking Matthias again in earnest and he ended up lying on the ground with both crowing triumphantly on top of him.

He fake groaned. "Save me, Elise."

I grinned. "I think I should go and get supper started."

"Elise," he whined. Both our kids jumped on him.

One second Leo was laughing, and the next his form shifted and twisted into a fuzzy little ball of fur. The only thing that stayed the same between his forms was the wide-eyed look of surprise.

I hurried into the room and knelt down next to my son. Maggie was looking at her brother curiously. "Pup!"

"Yes, Maggie. Looks like Leo is a pup after all."

Matthias scratched our son's head. "Want to go outside for a run, Leo?"

Leo wagged his tail and jumped around like he was incapable of staying still a moment longer, wiggling out of his pants as he did so.

"At least get him out of his shirt too, first, Matt," I said. I held out my hand. "Come on, Maggie. You can help me with supper. It's my turn tonight."

Maggie took my hand and I led her into the kitchen with me. She lost interest in helping after about three minutes and wandered off to play. Out the kitchen window I could see my transformed boy chasing Matthias around and tackling him.

I was happy, I was content, I was warm. I could not keep the smile off my face.

* * *  *  *  *  * * *

Author's Note: Whoop! I hope you liked this ending. (It's the more bittersweet of the two, hopefully you/random chance chose right.)

It's always such an adrenaline rush to finish a story, and getting it all posted is such a relief.

Now that I'm done semi-polishing these endings up for posting (I'm sure I missed a lot, I went through 52 chapters in a couple of weeks. I'm so done.)  I'm sure more editing is needed, so please feel free to point out any plot issues you noticed.

Except I'm never done. I'm still writing/posting How To Survive a Werewolf Romance. If you haven't checked it out, it's full of bad puns, jokes, and werewolf satire. Besides that, I'm going to do a touch up edit of the Vampire & the Rebel, before going back to the beginning of Trifecta to clean up the early chapters.

And then, I'm going to start getting an offline trilogy I wrote ready to try to publish.

And I can't forget that new book I was not supposed to start but I started anyways. (I blame bad influences who were all like, "You should totally start it while you're inspired.") It's got fairies, which I've wanted to write something about for at least a year. I'm not going to post it on Wattpad for the time being, but I do plan on doing something with it eventually.

So, if you like my writing enough that you think my future writing projects might interest you, please follow me here, on Instagram (@nelle.ivy) or on Twitter (@ivy_nelle) where I'll post future information. I post quotes or whatever occasionally on Instagram, and I swear I will tweet something, some day. But it is not this day.

Readers are the best part of writing. Thanks so much for reading!