EPILOGUE

It's been three years now since my mom and dad died, the Christian Grey died at the good age of 87, peacefully in his sleep. My mom died just a week later aged 81. We all say it was a broken heart as they were soul mates, one just could not live without the other and they were joined by love in a way which nobody could ever understand or explain. Their love was solid and nobody had ever come between them, and they were more than husband and wife, it was a bond of love which seemed to be stronger than life itself.

I look at the neat graves in our family plot. Mom, dad, Granddad Carrick and Grandma Grace, and Granddad Andrew, who finally was reunited with his son after years of searching, Granddad Ray and of course my twin brother, Matthew, I look at his grave and wonder what he would have done with his life if he'd only had the chance to live it, then I look at the grave of my sister Phoebe who threw her life away.

My mind wanders to the rest of my family, and the other graves in the plot, I think of Aunt Kate and Uncle Elliot, they remarried and lived in peace until Uncle Elliot died of natural causes. Aunt Kate is still alive but doesn't know anybody now, dementia is such a cruel disease. Aunt Mia is still alive and an old lady now, but still very much the same person she was when she was younger. She is also a widow, after Uncle Ethan died suddenly from a massive stroke. It was a shock but everyone rallied around, my dad was a great tower of strength to her when it happened. Ava and Zoe are both married now and I talk to Ava regularly. She and I have this bond from what happened to us when we were kids, and they are both great moms to their kids. Ava is shrink and a damn good one and Zoe is in the teaching profession as a mathematics teacher.

Noah is a television producer he works for one of the big networks, Jonathan – Aunty Mia's son is a police commissioner now living in California. He went through the ranks and worked his way up, probably due to the influence from his cousin Isobel, I smile as I think about my big sis who has always looked out for us all and protected us with a fierce intensity. We don't see her much now, she is 57 and a big shot in the FBI but I know that if I needed her she would be there. She never married, too married to her job and to getting justice for people.

This leads me on to thoughts of my eldest brother Theo, he's 61 now and he followed in dad's footsteps and he how runs Grey Enterprise Holdings. He reminds me of dad so much, he is a ruthless businessman but kind-hearted and generous to his family. He has been married twice; his first wife Susan was a gold digger of epic proportions only after his money and the status his name gave her. Thankfully the prenup allowed him to get away from her reasonably intact. But when he met Helena we all knew she was a keeper, she wasn't interested in his money and refused to accept anything from him, in fact she reminded me a lot of mom as she has a kind heart and plenty of love to give. They have a son - Christian, I knew Theo would name his son after our dad. He is going to be the new Christian Grey of GEH soon, after following in his grandfathers and fathers footsteps.

Then there's Pheebs what can I say about her, if there is such a thing as the proverbial black sheep in a family and if indeed there has to be one, it seems Phoebe was ours. Harry doted on her and he gave her everything. He became a rich and powerful lawyer, my brother Theo uses his services for any legal matters and he is good, really good. He gave Phoebe everything she wanted, but for Phoebe it just wasn't enough, Harry and Damien were heartbroken when she just left one day without a word, it seemingly came out of the blue, we all knew that she had been suffering from depression after the miscarriage of a second child, and everyone had tried to support her and help her, she blamed Harry but he was just as devastated with the loss as she was, but Phoebe just pushed everyone away and started doing stupid things. She started complaining she was being suffocated and needed to go out and enjoy herself, Harry indulged her as he felt he had no other option but to do so, but the next thing we knew she had just gone, left her husband and son and just vanished. We later learnt that Phoebe had got into a bad crowd and started using drugs again, but this time she didn't stop at cannabis, she got in too deep with hard drugs and got hooked on crack. I went with Harry to identify her body when we eventually managed to track her down. She had been found dead in a seedy apartment and she had died of an overdose, and we had discovered she had been prostituting herself to pay for the drugs.

Harry was gutted, but to his credit, he has been there for Damien, and has been a rock of stability for him. Harry's 63 now and retired from the law but still does a little to keep his hand in as a favour for people, Damien is 41 and followed his stepfather into law. I glance over at Phoebe's grave once more and I shake my head, such a waste of a life.

Finally there's me, little Alexander Grey the youngest son of Christian and Ana, the miracle who survived when his twin brother died. I'm 55 now, I went to work for Uncle Elliot in the construction industry, and now I own Grey Construction, after Uncle Elliot left it to me and named me as his successor in his will. I have a wife, Dee who I am totally and completely in love with she is beautiful, clever and wonderful woman who is the love of my life. She works for an advertising company and we have a 16-year-old daughter and I am very happy. None of us are poor, our father made sure we would be more than well provided for in his will.

"Dad" A voice pulls me from my thoughts I turn and see my 16-year-old daughter walking towards me.

"Hello Ana darling," I say and wrap my arm around her, she has her grandmother's name and her looks.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"Oh just visiting," I say quietly, "Why did you come here to find me?" I ask.

"There is no-one home, mom's still at work and I called the construction site and Doug said you were coming here on your way home, so I thought I'd come and find you".

She smiles at me, "Come on dad lets go home" she pulls at my hand.

"I'm coming baby" I turn towards the graves once more, and with a small smile, I whisper a single word.

"Laters!"

THE END