Epilogue (Monique)

It was a beautiful fall day, the air crisp and the leaves crunched satisfactorily under the feet of Elizabeth and Monique. Monique was doing a barbecue, and they had much to celebrate. Their own anniversary, the graduation of Emily, and both Aaron and Katie finding love in Atlanta.

They invited Douglas and Mira over, who brought Mira's cousin Kasey and her boyfriend Jackson over.

"Is that Jackson Reynolds?" Elizabeth whispered to Douglas.

"Yeah. He's Kasey's boyfriend. Small world, right?" Douglas said, chuckling.

"Looks like he's Mira's boyfriend too," Elizabeth said, laughing, noticing how Mira was looking at the older man, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, yeah," Douglas said. "Laugh it up." He looked serious for a moment. "Quite the journey we've been on."

"No kidding," Elizabeth said. "Sometimes I wonder if we should have made more ... conventional ... choices. But love is love, right?"

Douglas reached out, taking Elizabeth's hand and squeezing it soundly.

"Absolutely."