As requested by several readers, I hope this ties up some loose ends although I suspect it might leave some new ones dangling! Love Jules xx

Epilogue

Christmas Eve

Bella

I sat at the window watching the snow fall and wondering where the time had gone. It seemed only yesterday that Adam was a babe in arms and Lucky had appeared in our lives determined to keep my son safe from the Volturi. That was ironic as now he sat beside Marcus on the ruling council, the link between the Volturi and the guardian tribes. I missed him terribly at times but this was not one of them, he was coming home for Christmas, the first time the whole family would be together in over a year.

Fifteen years had passed since that night the wolves tried to kill Adam and Katee but I remembered it as if it had happened just yesterday. True to their word the dog guardians had sent word of the trial outcome, the three captives had chosen life as wolves over death. It hadn't done them much good, they didn't have the natural skills that normal wolves evolved from birth and two had been shot by hunters the same year. The third, Jake, had become the leader of a small wolf pack but had lost his life when an older more experienced Alpha moved in on them. I guess I should have felt something when I heard this, Jake had been a friend at one time but I couldn't get past the truth, that he had brought his pack of outcasts here to kill my son and Katee.

One puzzle we hadn't managed to unravel was why young Quileute men had continued to phase after the Cullens left and there were no more vampires in the area. Jasper and Peter had even gone back to Forks and checked the area but there were no tracks belonging to vampires, not even a nomad. I wasn't sure if this should concern us but as Peter had pointed out,

"The wolves weren't all Quileutes they were renegades so maybe that gave them the ability to shift whether there were vampires around or not. Let's just hope it doesn't start a trend."

We had watched very carefully but the guardians stuck to their reservations and Marcus monitored the situation for the next year or two finding no signs that anything had changed which was a relief.

We had begun to relax and enjoy life especially when Carlisle and Rosalie, through his connections in the medical world, had succeeded in adopting a child, a little girl with special needs and a better home little Megan couldn't have come to. Adam and Katee had taken to her immediately and hovered over her in wonder the day she came home with her new mommy and daddy. The guys put their heads together and as soon as she was strong enough they made her a wheelchair that looked like a fairy carriage and I really believe that only with Rose's perseverance and love did Megan learn to walk although her little legs would never be strong enough to allow her to run around like our children. Never the less she seemed happy enough and although Katee sometimes became bored with the things Megan liked to do Adam never did. Where Katee would wander off to do something on her own or ride Wizzard her new horse Adam stayed to read to Megan or help her to do a jigsaw or paint, he never seemed to get tired of doing things for his little cousin. We had decided Auntie Megan would be just too weird even for this dysfunctional family.

She grew steadily stronger although we did have one scare when she caught measles and was very sick for a week but Adam stayed at her bedside the whole time and we were convinced that without his help she wouldn't have made it, he had saved so many lives in this family one way or another.

That was a long time ago now and now Adam had left home and Katee was planning on joining him in Volterra soon, she said wanted to join the guard although Emmett suspected she had become close to one of them when she had visited Adam in the summer and he was against the idea. I think he just hated the thought of letting go of his little girl and I didn't blame him.

Charlotte was now a beautiful blonde haired girl with a mass of ringlets that hung down her back and a figure to die for. She could stand and walk and used her weak arm in a way that amazed us all. The doctors had said she was likely to be mentally challenged too, her biological parents having died in the car crash that brought her into the world far too early. Her speech was a little slurred but her mind was razor sharp and she didn't suffer fools gladly although she was fond of Peter so maybe there was a little touch of brain lag there somewhere!

She had missed Adam more than anyone and they spent hours talking to each other on the computer and phone and he sent her little presents often that delighted her and made Kerri jealous. She too was moving to Volterra in the spring, she wanted to work on her doctorate in Ancient Greek social systems and where better to do research? I think Marcus was in for a few question and answer sessions from our young Ph.D. to be. The way things were looking we might all be spending a lot of time in Italy, I know Carlisle and Rosalie had bought a villa just outside Pisa so we had somewhere to stay outside Volterra when we visited our various offspring but it was time to let go, they had their own lives to lead and they would come home when they wanted or needed to and we would always be here for them. The wonderful thing was that both Adam and Katee had stopped aging when they reached their late teens, a side effect of the vampire venom in their systems so we would never have to say goodbye to them and as for Megan...well...

Christmas Day

Everyone was here, the house was full to bursting, filled with laughter and excited voices and I loved every minute of it.

There was a knock on the door and my son strode in looking unusually solemn for him,

"Do you have a few minutes mom?"

"Of course, sit down. Is there something wrong?"

A smile flooded his face and I saw his father in him,

"Of course not, on a day like this? The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and all's well with the world. No, I just wanted to tell you something."

I couldn't resist tousling his hair although it always looked like he'd been running his fingers through it just like Jasper.

"Well?"

"Lucky came to me last night, it's the first time in ages, well I mean Dan but it's hard not to think of him as Lucky."

I stared at him wondering what this might mean.

"It's OK."

He'd picked up on my concern,

"He just wanted to wish me all the happiness in the world, they all do, Do you remember Dan?"

I nodded, I did indeed, the memory of a young man sitting at our kitchen table in the Seattle apartment eating chicken flashed into my mind.

"Oh yes, I remember Dan. So they know?"

He shrugged grinning,

"I didn't tell them but I guess word got back somehow. I still think about Lucky sometimes, how he died saving me. I was really fortunate I guess, I had a lot of people willing to lay down their lives to keep me safe. I want Megan to feel that, I want her to know that everyone loves her and we'll all fight for her whatever might come. She's not afraid of becoming a vampire but I told her it's her decision, I'll never put any pressure on her."

I smiled at him tenderly and put a hand on his shoulder,

"She knows Adam, she already knows that. Now, are you ready?"

He stood up and twirled around like a young girl then gave me a simpering courtesy,

"What do you think?"

I tried not to shade my eyes from the riot of color that was my son's outfit, an orange and green shirt, electric blue trousers and a blue waistcoat with a red buttonhole. His sartorial taste still resembled road kill but he didn't care what others thought so long as Megan didn't object and she had obviously thrown in the towel on this occasion.

"You look...stunning, Adam."

He threw his head back and laughed then drew on his red top hat and offered me his arm,

"Ready?"

As in all things Megan and Adam had their own idea how things should be done and had decided they wanted me to walk my son down the aisle while his father would stand as his best man but Carlisle had put his foot down and insisted on accompanying his daughter and would hand her over to Adam after that. We had wondered what part Katee would play in the proceedings but of course, that too had been organized. She rode Wizzard down the short aisle tossing red and white rose petals for the bride to walk over while Rosalie played the piece of music they had chosen, This I promise you** sung by Kerri and Emmett who made a beautiful job of it.

If I could have cried I would have, tears of pure joy at seeing my son now a man dancing with his new love, holding her so close and looking at her with such tenderness. I was privileged to see this standing beside my own husband, a man I loved more each day if that were indeed possible.

"They look very happy, as happy as us. Will you dance with me?"

I nodded and Jasper took me in his arms as the music began again. We had been through so much and lost or almost lost even more but here we were strong and bound together by bonds of love that could never be broken. Carlisle with Rosalie in his arms, Emmett and Kerri, Peter and Charlotte and Kerri, who had kept very quiet about her guest until he had arrived with Adam yesterday, beaming up at a young man, Dean, who looked a lot like his father, a man whose real name we never learned so only knew as Lucky. It seemed our small family had brought together the guardians and the vampires in a peace of sorts and that is all anyone could ask for but we hoped to build on it over the years.

THE END

**My love, here I stand before you
I am yours now from this moment on
Take my hand, only you can stop me shaking
We'll share forever, this I promise you

And when I look in your eyes
All of my life is before me
And I'm not running any more
'Cause I already know I'm home
With every beat of my heart
I'll give you my love completely
My darling, this I promise you

My love, I can feel your heartbeat
As we dance now closer than before
Don't let go, 'cause I could almost cry now
This is forever, I make this vow to you