//------------------------------// // Epilogue-The After Years // Story: A Night Gone Awry // by TheOriginalDash //------------------------------// This was the first of many days that we would spend together, because we kept our promise and stayed with each other until the end. I could not have chosen anything more perfect. I finally got my happily ever after with my best friend and the woman of my dreams, complete with a white picket fence, two cats, a hamster, and a snake, and four kids; a set of twin boys, and two beautiful daughters that look just like their mother. They all call me da, even though I'm technically their mum, too. But I didn't carry them for nine months, so I can't complain. I suppose it helped them make sense of the whole thing when they were little, and it just stuck. And I'm sure saying they had a da cut down on bullying until the others met me. Octy loves it though, and thinks it's just the cutest thing that they differentiate between us like that. And if she thinks it's cute, I'm not gonna change it. What Octy wants, Octy gets. It's always been that way. Our family was, needless to say, a very musical household; we had a cellist, a pianist and trumpet player, a percussionist, and the youngest played more instruments than I have time to name, including the double horn and bassoon. Octy and I were proud marching band parents for a total of fourteen years, helping out even in the years between having a kid in it. Note actually didn't mind that she left him for me. Turns out, he's gay, and was only dating her to try to 'fix' himself. It didn't work, and he was actually looking for a way to let her know he couldn't lie to her anymore. He eventually ended up with our friend Lyonheart, and they had a couple of kids through a surrogate mother. Everything worked out for everyone, and our kids spent many years together as they grew up. My da was very happy for me, but my mother tried to disown me. Octavia's stepmum tried the same. So, when we sent out wedding invitations, we included them anyway, but our da's were the only ones to show up. It really bothered me, but I let it go because Octavia wanted me to. At least her da was there to walk her down the aisle to me. Octy's da is their favorite grandparent, and they call him Papaw Morceau. My da was referred to as Gampy until they were old enough to call him Grandda Surefoot. My mum has sort of come around, if only for the sake of a relationship with her only grandchildren. They absolutely love their Nonna Liliana, and Octavia is too good to hold a grudge. I'm not, though, and I told the kids what she did when they were old enough. I did tell them that I had forgiven her, though. We're all doing well now. Octavia and I just celebrated our twenty-third anniversary. The twins, Crescendo and Finale, are in college. Crescendo wants to be a doctor like me, and Finale is studying to be a music professor. Allegrezza is in her freshman year at Octy and I's old school, Blueridge Senior High. She plans on being a psychologist. The youngest, Quillan, is in third grade at Lakeview Elementary. She already thinks she's gonna be president. We promised to vote for her in the 2032 election. If that doesn't work, she wants to be a particle physicist and work at CERN. I still marvel at how she knows what that is at eight years old.