Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean, I would be rich, this story would be a movie, Keira Knightley and I would be texting each other, and Orlando Bloom would be mine. MINE I TELL YOU!
Author's Note: This is it, guys. The final chapter.
Epilogue – Elizabeth's POV
The sheets ruffled and I felt someone nuzzle my neck and wrap an arm around my waist. With a smile, I snuggled myself closer into the chest of my husband and covered his hand with mine, rubbing the smooth band of his wedding ring. We had been married for eight blissful days and we couldn't be happier. The surprise honeymoon turned out to be in Rome, Italy with a day visit to Florence and a two-day trip to Pompeii. We also planned to add a few days to our honeymoon to see Venice, the city of canals. Currently we were in Pompeii before we were off to Venice.
Will let out a soft hum and wrapped his arm tighter around me, settling back in his sleep. Glancing at the clock I noted it was barely past two in the morning. I didn't know why I was awake, but I couldn't complain. After all, I had my husband snuggling in me and keeping me safe and warm.
Heh. My husband. I love that word.
Said husband stirred again and groggily focused on me. "What time is it?" he mumbled.
"Just after two."
"In the afternoon?"
I giggled slightly. "No, love. Just after two in the morning."
"Oh." Will sighed sleepily and pressed his face in my shoulder. "Why are you awake?"
"I don't know. Why are you awake?"
"Dunno."
I smiled in amusement and turned around, my front facing his. Tenderly I kissed his forehead. "Why don't you go back to sleep?" I suggested soothingly. "I'm fine. It won't take long for me to get some sleep."
"Mm, 'kay."
Will eventually drifted back to sleep while my mind drifted back to the past eight days. I thought of the sites we saw, the pictures we took, the food we ate, and the shopping we did. I thought of Rome and my favorite site: the Trevi Fountain. I thought of Florence and its shops. I thought of the ruins in Pompeii and the dead people casted in ash. I thought of our flight out to Venice the next morning and the pictures I've seen in the pamphlets Will showed me. A smirk slid on my face as I recalled all the moments we decided to ditch the city and head back to our hotel room.
I curled up in Will's chest, remembering the night we were made officially husband and wife. We were simply too tired after our reception to do anything and the jet lag we experienced when we arrived in Rome delayed our wedding night another day. But that night… It was certainly special. Will took me out to a romantic dinner that night. He had been so sweet and insisted that he didn't need to see the lingerie I packed until I was ready to display my body for him. He had been so slow, so gentle, and so comforting. It hurt, I had to say, but I didn't want to take back that moment. That moment was filled with Will's soothing words and apologies and "I love you"s.
But now our private moments in the bedroom included lingerie littering the floor. Will was never rough, but as we touched and explored, the shy gentleman I knew grew a little bold (although he would be embarrassed time to time and would apologize even though I was clearly enjoying myself). How on earth did I deserve such a man? If Will hadn't come in my life, I'd scarcely know if another man would treat me with the same respect, in or out of the bedroom.
I tightly wrapped an arm around his torso, not wanting to let go of him. My action must have startled Will out of his sleep because I noticed his eyes were groggily on me. "What's wrong, love?" he asked sleepily.
"I…" I paused and snuggled in closer, if possible. "I just want you to know that I won't let you go."
Will smiled and pressed a soft kiss on my forehead, rubbing my back with his palm. "And I won't let you go," he assured me. "I mean, I want you to be happy, but I would have a hard time letting you go if you ever change your mind."
I shook my head fiercely. "No!" I exclaimed. "No, I'll never change my mind." I bit my lower lip to keep from crying. "But you have no idea how much you mean to me. This honeymoon… Well, I know we're supposed to have hot, crazy sex every day and whatnot, but this honeymoon has been truly wonderful. I've enjoyed spending time with you and only you. I've enjoyed knowing more about you than I knew before. I've enjoyed learning your little habits I didn't notice before. I… Thank you. Thank you so much."
"Angel." His pet name for me, I discovered. Will smiled again, softly. "You're welcome, I suppose. I have to thank you for marrying me." He kissed my nose. "And I've enjoyed learning your habits too. The ones I've never noticed before, I mean." He chuckled over what I was sure was about one of my habits he discovered during our marriage. "But thank you for breaking the curse," Will added quietly. "If you hadn't… I'm sure that forever would've been awfully lonely."
"You're not lonely anymore."
"No. Not anymore." Will wrapped his arms around me. "I love you, angel."
"I love you more."
We talked a few more minutes, mostly about each other and our future. Will had fallen asleep in the middle of a teasing battle about what we were going to name our kids, leaving me to watch him and to push his curls away from his face. I kissed his forehead and rested my head on his chest.
Thump, thump.
His heartbeat.
Thump, thump.
No longer in the Dead Man's Chest, but in his own body, safe and sound.
Thump, thump.
The sound that told me over and over again that Will was here and was never going to leave or abandon me.
Thump, thump.
His heartbeat was my lullaby.
Thump, thump.
I closed my eyes, his heartbeat slowly lulling me to a blissful sleep.
Fin
Author's Note: 37,500 words (and probably more). 77 typed pages in Verdana font in font size 9. 162,634 characters. 1,363 paragraphs. 3,643 sentences. 22 chapters including the prologue and epilogue. It certainly was bittersweet when I finished editing the epilogue and wrote "Fin." It was surreal. I had hardly believed that I just wrote the last chapter of Heartbeat. Today is the one-year anniversary of when I first put up this story. I can't believe Heartbeat has been as successful as it is now. I didn't expect to get more than ten reviews. I didn't expect to get more than fifty reviews. I didn't expect to get more than one hundred reviews. The emails I get for this story to let me know I have reviews and alerts and to let me know that Heartbeat has been favorited... The number of hits I've seen... It's overwhelming in a good way! I appreciate everyone's words of encouragement. I appreciate all my readers, even if you didn't review or subscribed to this story or favorited it.
Oh, and referring to Elizabeth and Will's honeymoon, I just had to pick Italy. :] I went there last summer, as most of you know, and it's so beautiful there. I have been to Florence, Rome, and Pompeii (although I didn't stay in the cities as long as Will and Elizabeth did, except I did stay a day in Florence), but I haven't been to Venice. I want to go there if I ever go back to Italy. And Rome! I want to see more of Rome. :] And, yes, my favorite site in Rome was the Trevi Fountain. Gorgeous site! Don't get me wrong, though. All the sites in Rome are quite fascinating. :]
Special Thanks: I have to thank imaginarydeathmuffin (aka Darcy) for making me publish Heartbeat in the first place! I also have to thank callieandjack for making sure to remind me that I need to update. :] Also, I thank my sister, Goddess-Divine-05, for reading even though she gets too lazy to get on the computer sometimes. ;] Oh, and thanks to skn0wwb4llxx1nxxh3ll for reminding me to update while we were sitting around bored after school. :P
Thank you to the reviewers who have read and reviewed as I wrote Heartbeat: imaginarydeathmuffin, Turner Child, MegumiFuu, buffycorvin, owlreader, Kairianna864, piratechu, idle curiosity, javajunkiechick, callieandjack, sincerely MAR, Pegasus Pyrate, Drink Up Me 'Earties Yo Ho, Ariadne Evans, Szahara again, PirateRN, , Icedragon67, Touch of Destiny, oneflame95, Goddess-Divine-05, Fire Dolphin, Lolipop0394, hfce, Raiveene, mysteryfan09, losingsleep20, CaliGirl Alice-Molly, Edward-is-sexier-than-Mike, the fates of love, and thedeejay.
Thank you to my anonymous reviewers: jm and skn0wb4llxx1nxxh3ll. And thank you to my future reviewers and readers and those who have read Heartbeat even if they didn't leave a review! Oh, and thank you to whoever's name I missed while listing everyone! (And sorry if I missed your name! I didn't mean to. :P)
Y'all are the best!
Stories will come in the near future, I promise. :] So keep an eye out for them or author alert me (which ever one suits your fancy)!
Ciao!
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