The following fic is a continuation of the Saint in the Shadows saga. It is recommended that you read the earlier stories, but not terribly necessary.

1. Saint In the Shadows

2. Spaces In Between

3. Shades of Grace

4. Shadows in the Sun

5. Saints, Sinners, and Saviors

6. Something Is Lost

The current chapter takes place approximately 20 years after 'Something is Lost' (a year after the last chapter, that is). Antonia is 27 years old. There will be flashbacks, and rest assured, we will be returning to the scene at the end of Something Is Lost, and beyond. … I will attempt to put dates where I can.

The future, like the sun's rays, is immeasurable. Try as you might to capture them, it's impossible. The future can just as easily be snuffed out, just as quickly and just as unexpectedly as a sudden burst of light and heat from the sun could obliterate us as a human race. Life, like the future, is full of unpredictable things. But we move forward, regardless. We wake up every day and we plan our day, despite the unexpected changes that we will encounter. We wake up, get out of bed with an idea and a plan, and we continue to live those plans out, day after day, making our lives a worthy expression of leaning into the light...

People come into our lives as if they were the phases of the moon. You begin with just a sliver of trust and meaning, and with time, that trust can either become full, and bright... Or it can slide from view once again. Though for every orb of light that welcomes your attention, there are only a select few that are able to warm your face and spirit.

Sometimes, when you're staring up to the heavens, watching those phases, you notice that there are differences, nuances that you had never noticed before, like a person that you thought you knew through and through, only to find another secret. There are pockets of uncharted territory that if you were just brave enough, you would reach to the heavens for them, and if you were lucky, you'd find that the ball of light that you were reaching for isn't as large and as out of reach as you once thought. It's not cold or unwelcoming, but warm and inviting, like a good friend who not only treasures the trust, but gives you the gift of their own trust in return. With that, a bond is created, and a strong thread of friendship will pull you to that other person, and an understanding like no other begins to blossom and grow.

Those people, the select few; the ones that get drawn into your gravitational pull... they are the ones that are with you until the end. They remain a part of your life forever - no matter the distance, no matter the time passage. More often than not you will find that those certain people, or that 'one' special person, has somehow become something else entirely. They have become a part of you. And that, as they say... is everything.

These words echo in my heart with each and every syllable. These words were drawn from a place of pure and undying love and devotion. They were scrawled from my father's hand, and etched into my mother's soul. They resonate with my every decision, my every relationship, and my every breath. These are the words that all should live by, all should abide, all should focus on. These are the words that I repeated to myself when I finally let someone into my heart, into my soul. This is how I found the man that I was meant to be with, my soul mate of sorts.

Okay, that's how I reaffirmed that I had found my soul mate… eventually… which seems to be an ongoing theme in my family.

Everything happens eventually, even love.

My name is Antonia Booth, and this is the story of how I found love.

(That is, of course… If you believe in that sort of thing.)