Yes, finally, this lazy bum wrote it and updated. I went through 6 different drafts before finalizing on this one.

Pretty please, check out my story "The Eighth Breakup." Its about a girl who gets blackmailed into breaking up seven couples. All because a heartbroken boy who has photos of her egging the principal's house. Please give it a chance! I entered it for the wattys and for JustWriteit. Its gonna be less than half of half of this book.

Its like the one story after HvsL that I actually feel passionate about, to be honest.

Moving on. I'm never writing an epilogue EVER again.

Epilogue

"Children! Come inside!"

All the kids whined at Cate's order. I chuckled at Cate trying to tell them that it was soon going to rain. She didn't want them bringing mud into the Crowell mansion. Some family reunion. She could neither accept kids playing on their electronics nor playing outside.

"Please, Aunt Cate," they said pouting. Cate shook her head sternly and told them to get in. Her nine year old son, Dean, started throwing a tantrum. Seeing him do that made my eight year old, Luci, join him.

No domino effect, please.

"Cate, relax," I said and walked to the kids."Alright, I have a proposal." The whole bunch of them waited. "You can come inside, get hot chocolate, and wait for the rain to be over or stay out here, get sick and stay in the bed for a long while drinking only soup."

The kids bolted inside as the rain started pouring. One of them even gave me a sideways hug before going in. My sister and I laughed following behind. Visiting my sister and her husband was always nice experience. All the members were now inside, chatting or playing board games. I saw Julian playing chess with Lucas.

I didn't know why Lucas even bothered. None of us could beat my husband. Not even when we teamed up against him.

Cate and I told the kitchen staff to make everyone hot chocolate. Though coming to the Crowell mansion was very rare, the staff still knew Julian and I. And they liked us.

"Okay, everyone has a drink?" I asked. They yelled back a yes.

Actually, Dean accidentally tripped and spilled his drink (because it was hot) on Cate's purse. I was glad it wasn't my kid but her own who did that.

"Lucas!" she called. Lucas told her he was busy so tell him later. I laughed with the children. Cate kept getting irritated over her ruined purse but she didn't shout at little Dean. Dean came over to me and I took him in my lap, handing him my untouched drink.

"Mommy hates me," he said upset.

"No, she doesn't." Maybe she did. But I couldn't tell the poor kid that. "She didn't yell at you now did she?" He shook his head. "See, she loves you." He nodded but made no effort to move.

These kids were heavy and they found sitting in our laps comfortable. Luci had gone over to sit in Julian's lap. If she spilled her drink, I wondered what he would say. She was the epitome of clumsy.

"Julian, Lucia has a hot drink in her hand," I warned. We all watched.

"We're alright, Cassie--" He didn't finish because Luci "accidentally" spilled the liquid on the chess board. Half of the room was laughing while the other half worried.

I was laughing. These kids were one of the best things that happened in my life.

"Sorry, daddy, Uncle Lucas," she said, her eyes down, crying almost. She knew she was going to get away with doing that. The men sighed and postponed the game. One of the servants came and started cleaning the mess.

All of us huddled in the living room.

"It's okay," I said as Julian plopped down next to me with Luci. He never liked leaving things halfway done.

"You're so nice, Aunt Sandy," Dean said, hugging me. All the adults--including me--laughed. Julian's influence and the kids had changed my personality by a lot. If they knew me earlier . . . never mind.

"Never thought I would see this day," I said smiling.

"Sandy used to be the meanest person on the planet," Lucas told the children. They didn't look like they believed him. "Ask Julian and Cate."

"Well, not necessarily the 'meanest.' However, she wasn't the most pleasant and sweetest person," Julian said. I slapped his arm lightly.

"It was the fault of your family," I told him and Lucas.

"Oh I wanna know the story, mum!" Luci said excitedly. Michael, my fourteen year old, agreed along with Lucas's three kids--Dean, Jennifer, and Logan.

"It's too tragic," I said. It really was. The past was something I moved on from ever since Julian and I got married.

"I got this. I can sum it up," said Lucas, sitting on the armrest of the couch, "in one sentence: Sandy married the English guy." We all laughed, rolling our eyes.

"Tell the story! Please!" Luci insisted.

"It all started that Valentine's Day--" began Julian.

"Oh my god! You guys met on Valentine's Day?!" Jennifer said, her eyes wide. "That's so romantic!" The thirteen year old blonde girl read a lot of romance books. Her twin brother, Logan, told her to be quiet.

"There was nothing romantic the first Valentine's Day," I told them, "though our second Valentine's was when he proposed." My face broke out into a huge smile as I remembered the whole event.

"Wait, first start from the start and then tell us the marriage and all," said Luci.

We were all quiet. I didn't want to start. Julian took the spotlight and started telling the kids how we met. The kids loved the Bloody Mary prank which didn't set a good example. I told Julian to keep some names anonymous--mostly, Lucas's and Brandon's. So Lucas became the "Crush" and Brandon "lost friend." Though we had been a thing in high school, after that one play, Lucas and I became only friends.

Nothing other that. We never felt anything super special for each other.

"At the camp trip, Cassie punched her Crush," said Julian laughing. Lucas rubbed his nose which made Cate and I laugh hard. The kids didn't know Lucas was the crush.

"That's what he deserves!" Dean said. Lucas simply rolled his eyes at his kid who sat in my lap.

"Then, you got together with dad, mum?" asked Michael.

"Plot twist: I got back together with the crush," I said, now feeling stupid for that mistake. I then explained the rest of my journey. After some time, I concluded, "Julian was an idiot who left for seven years and then came back to marry me."

"My dad still got his CC," Dean said. Everyone looked at the little boy in surprise. Out of everyone, he figured Lucas out first. "You kept looking at him," Dean told me.

I laughed and nodded.

"Why would you have a crush on Uncle Lucas? Ew," Luci said. Lucas looked offended but Cate told him to shrug it off.

Julian hugged her. "I had a similar reaction, Luci."

"I'm happy you were the dero, daddy," Luci said proudly.

"That story was so cute!" gushed Jennifer. "Wait, so how did he propose, Uncle Julian?"

"It was," I spoke before Julian could, remembering my twenty four year old self, "really out of the blue. At that point (after he came back as the literature teacher), we had grown close to each other again. Saying it was a simple picnic, he took me out for a walk in an orchard."

"We walked for a bit and then it started raining," Julian continued.

"Which was pre-planned. He actually hired people to make it rainy--like they do in movies with fake rain." I laughed at the memory. I had actually thought it was rain at first when we were in the orchard.

"Wow, dad, why did you tell her it was fake rain?" Michael asked.

"She found Lucas, Cate, Piper, and a couple of our students with the hose and sprinklers," Julian replied. Julian had involved them all in the proposal mess.

"Can we stop with the technical things? What did you say and how did you do everything?" Jennifer, the impatient grasshopper, asked.

"Seeing as it is raining outside right now," Cate said smugly, "Why don't you play it all out? The kids will understand better."

I shook my head furiously. Oh no. It was a one time thing. I had been too emotional back then. Dean got off my lap and Luci got off Julian's. The kids began pleading. Yes, that included Lucas Crowell.

"Come on, darling," Julian said grabbing my hand and dragging me with me.

"Julian, I love you to death but please stop," I said quickly. His light blue eyes met mine and a smile illuminated his face.

"Absolutely not, darling."

He brought us both out in the front garden. It was raining hard. The only reason Julian had planned a fake rain during his real proposal was because I had rejected him in high school in the rain. He wanted to redeem himself.

Today, there was actual rain.

The kids, Cate, and Lucas all kept at a close distance as Julian took my hands in his and looked down at me, rain falling on his face.

I was thirty nine but my twenty-four year old self was returning to me. Julian and I were getting old, physically, but our love was ever so fresh.

"The day we met couldn't have been any more spectacular than it already was," he began. "I never--speaking frankly--expected myself to fall for you." I chuckled, tears already forming in my eyes. "You were emotionless as many put it, but my darling, you went through a lot by yourself. I hated it. I still hate thinking about the life you had been living. I know I've made mistakes and hurt you on several occassions. But none of it was intentional. I know, Cassie, we've gone through many ups and downs, twists and turns, rejections and acceptances, happy moments and sad moments--all together."

Small tears escaped my eyes as Julian bent down on his knees, still holding my hands and my gaze.

"All together, darling. I want us to keep going through everything together. I don't care if you don't want ten children." I laughed. "Would you, Cassandra Elizabeth Evans, do me the honor of becoming my wife--Cassandra Aylmer?" he finally asked. The group behind us awed loudly. "The place you hold in my heart cannot be replaced. I love you. I love you more than you can ever estimate. I cannot imagine someone else trying to steal you away from me. Marry me?"

"Yes," I nodded and forcing him to stand up. I wrapped my arms around him, tightly embracing my husband. "You always deserved someone much better than me, Julian," I whispered.

"You're my only darling, darling."

"I love you, Julian."

"I love myself too," he replied. I punched his arm, pulling back. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"Jerk."

I love you too."

He leaned down and gave me a swift kiss on the lips. I gasped in surprise. We always did our best not to display affection in front of the kids. The children complained of how gross this was. Julian didn't seem to care too much about that.

"Mum!" Luci called.

I was still in Julian's arms but turned.

"Yes?" I said.

"Can I have eight more brothers and sisters?"

Julian and I looked at each other and laughed.

My unhappy life had a complete makeover ever since I met the one and only--

Julian Aylmer.

¤》¤《¤

How was the chapter? How was the proposal?

I will be starting to update the sequel (Eradicating Our Love) starting August. You will find the first hand proposal in there.

Thank you for your journey on this book.

Please check out my other stories if you have time. Hint hint "The Eighth Breakup." ;) I'm trying to get all my writing in before college begins.