Epilogue - If the Fates Allow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And since we've no place to go

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

An angelic heavenly voice sang lowly from the stage in the ballroom with a jazz band behind her, backing up the vocals. She stated her presence in a soft grey dress that stopped above her knees while still subjecting herself to the background. Her unparalleled beauty inevitably captured attention despite her presence cloaked in subtle darkness.

The rest of the Christmas Eve party was alive and well.

And it doesn't show signs of stopping

And I brought some corn for popping

The lights are turned way down low

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

The clock presented a near midnight hour, but all of the old people in the ballroom danced, chatted, and drank to their heart's content as if it were only seven or eight o'clock. Makennah was genuinely surprised by their slightly immature antics, but otherwise enjoyed herself.

Maybe it was because Will allowed her to bring Theo to his workplace's annual Christmas Eve party. Nothing felt as special as the fact she got to celebrate this season with him. After all of the mental, emotional, and psychological hardships she faced every week with Janine, molding and shaping herself into a better version - a version she desired to be for her family and for her boyfriend - Makennah thought she quite deserved a miraculous evening surrounded by the scent of pine, the glittering lights, and overdone Christmas decorations.

"Punch or water?" Theo asked her, offering to grab her a refill while he retrieved his own.

She glanced up at him as he rose to his feet and when she did, she thought to herself, that's my boyfriend. Theo is my boyfriend. This was something she practiced every day to remind herself of the reality that Theo wanted to be in her life as more than a friend. "Punch." Makennah lifted the empty glass and let her smile turn up the corner's of her eyes with happiness. Theo winked before he retreated.

"She's hot," Matt mentioned to Makennah, sealing his gaze on the beautiful star on stage singing into the microphone.

When we finally kiss goodnight

How I'll hate going out in the snow

But if you really hold me tight

All the way home I'll be warm.

"You should get her number," Makennah enticed, wiggling her eyebrows in encouragement.

Matt licked his lips and rose to his feet. "I just might."

Makennah dropped her chin into her palm while she rested her elbow on the white linen covered table where drooling candles melted in the middle blazoned by a warm flame. A collection of skinny crystal vases supported long-stemmed white roses - unassuming in their beauty and yet captivating all the same. The five star rated catering company had since cleared the tables of the pristine silver tableware and plates after a fabulous meal.

With full hands, Theo kicked out his seat and placed their refills in the perspective places. Makennah swirled the Christmas red colored punch around in her glass before taking a sip, feeling the crisp apple strawberry flavor explode on her tongue. When she set her glass down, she noticed Theo watching her out of the corner of her eye. "Thanks," she said, offering him a smile.

Theo tapped his fingers in a rapid beat on the table. "You're welcome. Where did Matt go?"

Makennah motioned to the front stage where Matt was talking to a group of his father's co-worker friends while subtly trying to make his way closer to the stage where the pretty singer sang her heart out, hitting all the right notes with ease and control. "I told him he should go talk to the singer. He said she was hot."

Theo shook his head at his friend's antics. "I'm so glad I'm not single anymore." Then he winked at her, reached over, and tucked a curly strand of blonde hair behind her ear. His gaze traveled down her neck to her dress which Carolynn bought her for this special occasion. "Would you like to dance? I'd love to show you off."

Nervously, she giggled and blushed as if he didn't say sweet things to her like that every day. Though she loved the fact Theo dedicated himself solely to her and she to him, she still managed to blush around him like he whispered sweet nothings in her ear for the first time every time. "Yes, sir." She gave him her hand as he swept her away from the table, wove in and out of the ballroom through masses of people, and swept her into his arms on the makeshift dance floor in the center near the stage where older couples occupied their time with their mates.

Makennah placed her hand on his shoulder and the other in his palm while Theo took the lead, swinging her around the dance floor like a pro. "I can't keep up with you," she whispered for only him to hear.

Theo nestled her closer to his body and dropped his hand to her waist. "You haven't stepped on my feet yet. That's keeping up, babe," he chuckled in her ear and her spine shivered with pleasure.

She shrugged. "I'm happy you're here," she admitted, looking into his eyes.

"I'm happier," he challenged.

"I'm happiest!" She said with a laugh and then cringed. "That was super cheesy of us. Let's not do that again."

Adamantly, Theo nodded his head. "I totally agree. I threw up a little in my mouth, I think."

Makennah rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's a little dramatic."

Suddenly, Theo spun her under his arm, twirling her around and around, watching her pretty Christmas dress flutter around her legs in spectacular sparkles. Finally, he drew her back into his arms and crushed her to his chest. "How was that for dramatic?"

She sucked in a breath, a little winded and dizzy. "Okay, okay, you make your point."

Theo slowed his pace to a comfortable rhythm that matched the song.

Through the years we all will be together

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest place

So have yourself a merry little Christmas

"You never told me how that college visit went!" Theo exclaimed, suddenly remembering.

Makennah bit her tongue before she told Theo she didn't want to talk about it. Makennah set her mind to being more open with her friends and family even if the truth scared her or if she wasn't able to determine her exact emotions at that moment. Will and Theo had teamed up one Sunday afternoon to convince Makennah to visit a nearby college just to get the feel of the place. They promised her multiple times that it didn't mean she had to go. She swallowed roughly. "It was good. The university is very big but they have a way of making it feel homey."

Theo smiled from ear to ear. His thumb lazily traced across her back. "That's really good. How did you feel about it?"

She chewed on her bottom lip. "It seems scary to think about going to college." It seemed scary to uproot her entire life and bank on a college experience ending with a who-knows-what degree  after she just settled in with the Sinclair's as their unofficial-official child. Now that Makennah put down her roots, college seemed even less appealing.

But she couldn't live at home forever.

"Why's that?" Theo asked.

Makennah glanced over his face and found nothing but openness and honesty. His concern and curiosity stemmed solely from care and kindness. "What if I fail?"

"You won't fail," he told her immediately.

Makennah shot him a look, raising her eyebrows and not saying anything.

Theo huffed. "Sorry, I forgot." In Makennah's willingness to open up about her feelings, she expressed through an hour long of tears and frustration and fumbling through her words that she felt that her emotions were delegitimized when Theo instantly told her the opposite or a positive word that was supposed to be encouraging. "Why do you think you'll fail?" He tried again.

She shrugged. "College was never in the cards for me. You know that. I've never set my goals that high. So I don't know what to expect or what to think of it because I've never let myself go there."

Theo nodded thoughtfully. "Are you afraid of failing your classes?"

She shook her head. "Not so much my classes. Just the overall experience."

Theo squeezed her gently. "You conquered Braxton High, Kennah. You can conquer anything."

Shaking her head, she laughed a little. "That's not the same thing."

Theo brushed them past another couple, keeping his feet moving along with the beat. "Well, I'm proud of you for going."

She grinned up at him, allowing herself to sink into his embrace. "Thank you." Little did Theo know that she planned a visit at the college where Theo accepted his invitation to play collegiate football. Although she didn't want to be that type of girl that followed her boyfriend to college, Makennah had to give it a chance and see where it led. Maybe she wouldn't like the university at all, but those eight hundred miles of separation was a distance she didn't ever want between her and her boyfriend.

"I love you, ya know," Theo whispered, dropping his head to her ear.

"I know. Merry Christmas, Theo."

"Merry Christmas, Kennah."

The clock struck twelve but her Cinderella heart didn't flee. Theo had the opportunity to see the ugly inside of her but he didn't run. So neither did she.

On March 1, 2019, Makennah told Theo that she loved him for the very first time. For Valentine's Day, Makennah was positive she was going to feel it...the love, that is...and finally tell Theo. When the time came as she had it all planned out, the words got stuck in her throat. It felt forced, so she swallowed down the fear and decided to wait. Theo never pressured her to say 'I love you' back to him. On so many occasions, he willingly and unremittingly expressed his feelings to her, knowing she wasn't quite there yet.

Makennah sat on the stoop of the Sinclair's front steps on a crisp bright sunny morning, dreaming of spring but knowing it was a little far off despite the teasing warm temperature. She had just returned from a run and she was allowing her body to cool down before she returned inside.

For weeks, Makennah had doled on and on about these special homemade glazed donuts from a bakery in her hometown that she happened upon when she was fifteen that she was specifically craving. Her mouth drooled at the prospect of tasting their melty deliciousness again. Theo promised her many times that he would take her some morning, but it just hadn't happened yet.

That Saturday morning, Theo pulled up in his Lexus to the Sinclair's and hopped out of the car with a white paper bag in his hand. He walked up to her, stuck his arm out, and said, "It's the donuts."

Before she even took the bag, she blurted out, "I love you."

Because she did. She did love him.

Makennah reserved those words for only the most special people in her life. She had never told her mother she loved her. She didn't have any other family to love. She didn't have steady friends that she loved. She didn't even have pets to love. Before the Sinclair's, Makennah maybe didn't even know what love was.

Now she loved Will, Carolynn, Matt, Nick, Josh, and Jonah. She loved Grace, Penny, and Meredith. She loved soccer and her teammates. She loved the person she was becoming in a flourishing environment that catered to her needs as much as anyone else's. And she loved Theo.

Every Saturday morning, Theo and Makennah created the tradition of driving to her hometown for bakery donuts. And every Saturday, Makennah told Theo that she loved him.

Well, she said it lots of other times too.

You get the picture.