Gideon & Adalee

"Yes, I do. I have to get it off of my chest."

"You can tell me anything you need to Brayden. It won't change the fact that I forgave you a long time ago."

"I know you did. It's forgiving myself that's the problem."

I reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "You need to let the past go Brayden. I'm happy now, happier than I've ever been. I'm married to a wonderful man. He can't wait to meet Milo and be a stepfather to him. We've already renovated the garage into an apartment for him. He doesn't know yet though, we wanted to surprise him."

"Really? That's amazing. I'm sure he'll love it. And I'm happy for you Jennie. Truly."

"Thank you." I paused a minute and looked at him. "You're not going to leave again are you? You're going to stick around? Your kids need you. All of them."

"I promised them that I wasn't leaving again and I'm not. Not ever."

"Good. That's good. They'll enjoy having you around full time. It'll be good for you too."

"I'm excited about it, actually."

I had stepped back out of the house, taking a look around at the destruction. That's when I saw him. My brother was standing there looking on as Tara and her siblings hugged their mother. "David!" I yelled and took off running towards him.


"Carmen!" I took off and met her halfway, catching her as she jumped into my arms and hugging her tight. "Oh my god. I had no idea you'd be here."

"I can imagine. You've never gotten to spend very much consecutive time with them, have you?"



I turned around when I heard her name. I wanted so bad to go over to her, but I resisted.

"No, I haven't. We have a lot to catch up on." I said, smiling at David and Carmen.


"How are you even here?" I asked him.


"Don't worry about that. Just know that I am."

I couldn't help but smile. "Things are going to be okay, aren't they?"

"Yeah. I really think they are. As long as my kids are happy then I can manage to be happy too."

"I feel the exact same way. I wonder how many people are going to want to leave here though. Put everything far behind them."

"I don't know. I guess we'll see how all of that plays out."

I nodded. "That's all we can do right now. Just wait and see." I looked around and shook my head. "I can't believe they've done all this. And I have a feeling it's far from over."

"So do I. I don't want to rush these reunions but we have to get to a safe place."

I nodded. "I know." I looked over at Adalee, she was staring over at us. "You should go talk to her. Or you can on the way, we should get going."

"Yeah." I replied and walked up her porch steps "I was giving you time with the kids but we should probably get going. It isn't safe here."

"I'm perfectly fine here. They've obviously moved on to somewhere else."

"They didn't move on. They were stopped, and some could come back to finish what was started."

"I'll only go if the kids want me to," I said. They said they did so I sighed and went to pack a bag. "Fine. Let's go," I said when I came back out.

"Want me to carry that for you?"

"No thank you, I can handle it just fine myself."

"Alright then." I said and asked Carmen if she'd like to come along but I knew she wouldn't leave her brother's side.



We got everyone together and got everything ready, then left for I didn't know where. All that mattered was that I had my kids back.