EPILOGUE: Five Years Later

| Izzy at the top! Our 12 year old is now 17 :') |

Five Years Later...

Vision dark, I giggle as my feet tumble forward. "Where are you taking me, Ollie?"

"You'll see," his voice comes from my right as he keeps his arm around me, enveloping me in the heat his body produces. "Well, when I let you see that is," he mumbles lowly in my ear, smirk evident in the way his voice rumbles and taunts, causing a shiver to travel down my spine. Five years of a relationship and my body still reacts to him like it did the first time we kissed.

Five years. Wow, I think to myself as we continue walking. It's gone by so fast. Even though that's true, at the same time, so much has happened and changed in this half of a decade that's passed by us. Turns out that Ollie's mum had the mortgage completely paid off after all for the house, leaving it to him in her will. He didn't touch the place for two years, the pain and grief too overwhelming for him to do anything with it. During those two years, Ollie and I moved into my apartment together, visiting Izzy as much as we could while she was living with her uncle.

That bastard.

Shaking my head, I think back to the last time we visited there. We had come by to surprise Izzy and take her out to dinner for her birthday. However, when we knocked there was no answer. We had tried the door, just in case, and were both worried to find it unlocked. It wasn't too long before we found Tate's hand gripping fourteen-year-old Izzy's throat, holding her against the kitchen wall, as the other hand was under her over-sized top. It only took a moment of horror before Ollie was on his uncle, hooking him left and right.

Izzy had slumped down the wall in tears, holding her neck and curling into a ball. It was the most heartbreaking sight, to see such a strong girl traumatised and violated by someone she was supposed to trust. I had found myself going straight to Izzy, giving her as much comfort as I could while I watched Ollie leap off an unconscious Tate to the call the Police.

After that whole incident, Ollie was determined to protect his sister so we moved into his family house, leaving our old life behind an hour away. I didn't have any qualms about moving, I was finished with University and could do my school counseling job anywhere. Once we had moved and settled in, we got granted legal guardianship of Izzy.

Soon after moving and taking in Ollie's sister, we started noticing her flinching behaviour and screaming nightmares. Discussing it with both Ollie and Izzy first, we all decided it was best if she started going to therapy. Predictably, she was diagnosed with PTSD and GAD. Though there were plenty of ups and downs, Ollie and I supported her through everything and she's come a long way, now only taking Lexapro for her anxiety with her nightmares completely gone.

We've been a family for the past three years and I wouldn't have it any other way. Izzy has become a sister to me and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not looking forward to when she leaves for University in just over a year.

Ollie stops walking, tightening his hold on my shoulders for me to stop too. "This is kind of kinky, blindfolding me on our fifth anniversary," I tease, leaning to my right to try kiss his cheek. I end up getting his ear but oh well, at least it's still his face.

There's the sound of keys and then a door unlocking before he's moving me inside a slightly musty building. My brows furrow as I pout. "Where are we?"

Ollie's lips press to the corner of my jutted lip, muttering, "So impatient, Mace." Then all of a sudden my vision floods with light and I find myself squinting. Not surprising when I've been blindfolded for an hour.

Once my eyes have adjusted to the midday light - which I can now see filtering through the large glass windows - I look around in confusion at the empty space. Ollie wears a nervous expression as he rubs the back of his neck, shuffling in his spot while he waits for me to say something.

It's not until I peek out the windows that I realise where we are. "Is- Is this where the Starbucks used to be near our old apartment?" Ollie nods with a smile. We used to come here every other day as a sort of tradition before studying/working all day.

My gaze flits around the empty concrete space before I remember something, "How do you have the keys?"

Ollie enigmatic smile widens, "You know that money I inherited from my grandfather when he passed away a six months ago?" I nod, my hand covering my mouth in shock and confusion. "Well I bought two things with it and this," he gestures around us, "is one of them."

Cue gasp. "What? W-why?"

"I bought it for you." He steps closer to me, pushing my hair back behind my ear gently. "I was thinking you could use it to open a bookstore like you've always wanted, or you know, start your own counseling hotline," he wiggles his eyebrows teasingly but my heart is beating too erratically for me to process anything except his words.

"A hotline," I repeat quietly, eyes wide before I start nodding enthusiastically, basically jumping on the spot. "That's a perfect idea!"

Ollie laughs, "I wasn't being serious but if that's what you wanna do then it's up to you. Open your hand." He removes a small purple-painted key from his chain and places it in my palm, folding my fingers over it. "Happy anniversary, Macy."

I start shaking my head in amazement. "This is amazing. You're amazing." My eyes soften as they stare into his. "You didn't have to do this," I whisper.

"I know. I wanted to." He grins, pushing his black hair back with his hand. Throughout the time we've been together, Ollie tends to keep his hair at the same unruly length; long enough for it to curl at his ears. I love his hair though so I'm not going to complain.

"Wait, we live an hour away though," I frown, looking away in thought. "I guess I could spare the gas."

"Good thing about running a business is that you choose your hours and days. Although, you'll probably have to be here a lot at the start and I'll help you with anything you need."

The surge of gratitude and affection hits me so hard that I'm immediately pulling his face to mine, pushing our lips together passionately before pulling away, breathing heavily. "Thank you."

Ollie sends me a wink and pecks my lips. "Well, when you kiss me like that, how could I possibly not give you anything you want?" I sigh into the next kiss, tightening my grip on the back of his neck, wanting to be closer. Unfortunately, Ollie doesn't have the same idea. "As much as I love where this is heading, this place needs a good clean before we consummate it," he pauses when I snort. "Plus I have one more surprise. Come with me." He grabs my hand, linking out fingers together before leading me out of the small building, locking the door behind us with my key. And then he's pulling me down an oh-so-familiar path that we haven't taken in five years.

Exactly five years.

Nervous energy is bouncing off the man next to me and I smile fondly. "You okay?" I ask, rubbing my thumb over his hand.

"Never better. Hopefully."

Tilting my head, I decide not question him as we make our way across the discoloured grass. When we reach the playground, he tugs me towards the double side and that's when I notice the red and white check picnic blanket spread across the bottom, laying over the wood chips. Classic. Laying simply on top of the blanket is a tan, woven basket, the top hiding its contents from view.

"This is beautiful, Oliver," I admit, bewildered. But then I find myself being confused again. "Wait, how did you pull this off when we were together the whole time?" I ask, raising a curious eyebrow at his mischievous grin.

"Well..." He scratches the back of his head before shrugging nonchalantly. "I may have recruited someone to put it here while we were on our way."

"Let me guess, Theo?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

He nods and I giggle, "Thank him for me."

"I will. I promise that I put the whole thing together and everything, I just got Theo to set it up. Then while you were blindfolded, I checked my phone to make sure it was ready. He only left here like fifteen minutes ago."

My eyes double in size as they instantly scan the park area, not finding anything unusual or out of place. Yet, I still mumble, "You think he's watching to see how the surprise went?"

Ollie laughs boisterously and it takes a couple minutes for him to calm down enough to talk. I'm pouting again while he takes his time laughing at me. "You're so cute. Don't worry, he has plans of his own."

"Right."

"Wanna eat, Lovely?" My head already starts agreeing for me, having not had breakfast this morning. Ollie lets go of my hand to kneel on the blanket and look through the basket. He looks up and raises his dark eyebrows at me. "Macy, you can sit on the slide. I'll join you up there soon with the food."

A slight flush touches my skin but I make myself move to sit down on one side of the dark green double slide. Soon enough, Ollie's handing me a plate filled with some of my favourite foods, including 'Italian Sushi'. He must have called the family for this, I think admirably. My family all love Ollie, being easily swooned by his honest charm. And trust me, it's not easy to charm my entire family when I have so much of it. But somehow, Ollie managed.

But am I shocked? No.

Melodious notes of one of my all time favourite songs starts playing and my head shoots up from where I was looking down at my plate. My gaze catches Ollie messing around on his Spotify app.

"I hope this is okay, I put together a playlist full of your favourite music. But if you'd prefer to eat in silence then that's-"

"Ollie, this is perfect, thank you." I express emphatically, earning myself a warm smile in return.

After serving his own plate, he joins me on the slide as we both dig in. Time passes by peacefully as we eat, listening to the soft music, and chatting about everything that's happened over the years.

"I still can't believe you don't remember the first time we kissed!" Ollie accuses, incredulity fueling his tone.

I just shrug and stick my tongue out like a five-year-old. "Maybe it wasn't that memorable."

"If you poke that tongue at me again, I might have to remind you." He leans closer to me, daring me as I blush. Although I'm tempted to taunt him, I decide that him reminding me can be done later when we don't have to stop because of public indecency. Stopping would simply be a crime but apparently, so is sex in public.

Plus, I don't want to find wood chips later in places they really shouldn't be.

"You realise you're an open book, right? I can basically read your mind when you're looking at me with those heated, blue eyes," Ollie groans, voice husky.

"Oh," I utter, blushing deeply before clearing my throat. "Do you have anything to drink? I'm suddenly thirsty."

Ollie just chuckles, reaching for the bottle of Coca-Cola, my favourite soda, from the ground. He pulls out two wine glasses from the basket and I giggle as he pours the fizzy as if he's serving fine wine in a five star restaurant.

"Your coke, Madam," Ollie announces, handing my glass to me with a seated bow, one hand behind his back.

"Why, thank you, Waiter." I wink, taking the glass from him, gulping it down quickly. Ollie purses his lips at me but thankfully doesn't comment on it as he pours his own drink and sits back up.

He sips it until it's gone before placing it back down and turning back to stare at me intimately.

"I'm so lucky to have you, you know that?"

I nod cheekily, "Yup." I press a chaste kiss to his lips before humming, "I'm the luckiest one though."

Placing a hand on my jaw to cup my face, the tips of his fingers disappear into my hair. "I mean it, baby. Not one day has passed the last five years where I haven't thanked the universe for giving you to me. All I ever think is 'thank God Bianca cheated on me' because otherwise I never would have called that damn hotline. I never would have heard your sweet, angelic voice."

I feel my skin warm at the amount of love his words are soaked in, on clear display as he runs a thumb across my cheek bone. My eyes flutter briefly, basking in this wonderful feeling as he presses his forehead against mine. "I'm glad you called."

"There are so many moments that I cherish but the one I hold closest to my heart is the moment you said you'd be mine. Right here on this uncomfortable slide." When I feel Ollie move and grab one of my hands in his, my eyes fly open in protest before my breath catches in my throat. Ollie has moved so that he now kneels on the blanket in front of me, holding a small, black, velvet box in his free hand. The lid is closed but I know what it is. And I think that's when the tears start.

"Nothing I could ever do is enough to express just how much I love you, Macy. How much happiness and light you've brought into my life. I know that this whole thing is cheesy but I don't care because you mean the world to me. I want you by my side, to share my life with you and to live each day trying to make you happy," he stops momentarily to reach up and wipe my tears with his thumb. "You're gorgeous, fucking beautiful. You make me incredibly happy to the point where I want to burst into song. But I'm not that sappy," he chuckles softly, pushing my hair back behind my ear again as I gasp out a wet chuckle, sniffling.

Then he's opening the small box and whispering the three words I will forever remember.

"Marry me, Macy."

I don't actually look at the ring, my gaze is firmly placed on his face. "Yes!" I exclaim, launching forward and attacking him in a hug before pulling back to kiss him with as much adoration as possible. Then I repeat myself between kisses as we both smile, "Yes." Kiss. "Yes." Kiss "Yes." Kiss. "Absolutely." Kiss. "Without a doubt."

Ollie beams at me as he moves back with a laugh. "Hmm, are you sure?" He ribs, eyes darkening. "I'm not sure if you were convincing enough."

That's it. Screw public indecency.

**

Okay, so we didn't end up having sex or getting naked, but that doesn't mean what happened was necessarily PG. After the long drive back home - which consists of kisses, intimate touches, and a whole lot of elated affection - we make it back to the house in time to cook dinner. As we walk towards the wooden front door, I glance down at my left hand, smiling at my finger. The ring is simplistic but extremely cute and just my style. It's a silver infinity band with a trio of small diamonds on the top, shaping a triangle.

It's stunning, perfect.

When we reach the door, I hesitate, glancing back at Ollie. "When do we tell Izzy?"

He just grins sheepishly. "She already knew I was proposing tonight. She found the ring when she was home alone sick last week."

"How did she take it?"

"You'll have to see," he suggests, reaching around me to twist the door knob.

Almost as soon as we're inside, I hear a squeal and then suddenly two thin arms are wrapped around me, buzzing with excitement. "Congratulations! I knew you would say yes!" And then Izyy's pulling away to punch Ollie's arm lightly. "What did I tell you?"

Her olive-skinned face is ecstatic and she begins pulling her dark wavy hair into a bun.

"Yeah, yeah." He rolls his eyes, rubbing his arm where her punch landed. Then he's being crowded with a hug from Izzy too. He laughs, shaking his head.

When Izzy moves away, she clutches her hands together and squeals again, "I'm so happy for you both." Then she's sighing, "I want a boyfriend."

Ollie's narrows his eyes, "Like hell you do."

Both Izzy and I laugh as we all walk to the kitchen. Ollie keeps going on about how Izzy can't get a boyfriend until she's fifty while I start chopping up the vegetables. Meanwhile, Izzy sits at the counter with her phone in hand, ignoring her brother's protectiveness.

"Did you have a good day today?" I ask, glancing up from the chopping board to see her smiling at her phone. "Izzy?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I just lounged around," she answers distractedly, thumbs swiping across her screen. Ollie steps up behind her to check over her shoulder, I try to shake my head at him as to say 'don't snoop' but he shoots me an evil smile.

Before I can warn Izzy, Ollie snatches her phone out of her hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" She exclaims, trying to reach it from where Ollie's holding it out and up as he assesses it.

"Who the hell is Derek? He better not be laying a hand on you or-"

"That's none of your business!" Izzy argues, attempting to pull his arm down but Ollie just glares at her.

Oh shit.

"Ollie," I warn. "Give your sister her phone back and stop hounding her." Ollie decides to send daggers in my direction instead. I just stare at him pointedly and it only takes a second before he's huffing.

"Fine. Here."

As soon as Ollie lowers his arm, Izzy takes her phone and grits out, "Asshole," before storming away from the kitchen with tense shoulders. Once she's gone, Ollie takes her seat and places his head in his hands, groaning in what I assume is frustration.

Putting the silver knife down, I walk around the counter to rub his shoulders. "She's seventeen, Ollie, she can talk to boys if she wants to. Most girls her age are doing a lot worse so we should just be grateful she's not like them. She's a good kid; goes to school, gets good grades and is rarely ever out of line," I remind him, leaning down to kiss his head and then stay there for a moment to whisper, "Plus, she's been through a lot. If she's finally able to trust a guy, then it might be good for her. She deserves a normal life or as close to one as she can get after everything she's gone through."

Ollie stays quiet for a moment before I feel the slumping of his shoulders. "She deserves the best. I just don't want her to get hurt again."

"I know," I sympathise. "But she's almost an adult, she can make her own decisions and being hurt is a part of life. You don't have to be happy about it but she needs to know we're here for her if she needs us."

His head nods, jostling my own. "Your right."

"Great," I move to clap my hands together. "Let's go talk to her."

"Now?"

"Yes," I laugh. "Now."

I almost have to forcibly drag Ollie to Izzy's room with me as he grumbles. However, as soon as we reach her door and begin knocking, he straightens up with a mask of calm settling on his face. I squeeze his hand comfortingly.

When Izzy swings open the door and sees us there, she starts to close it again. Ollie puts his hand out quickly to stop it from shutting. He starts pleading, "Come on, Isabelle. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go all 'Big Brother' on you."

Izzy's eyes flicker to my apologetic ones briefly before she lets out a breath, taking a step away from the door. We walk in as she sits down on her bed, flipping her phone around in her hand nervously.

Ollie inhales deeply, "It's okay if you have a boyfriend or whatever. It wasn't my place to snoop."

"We want you to know you can talk to us about anything and that we're always here for you," I add carefully, moving to sit next to her while Ollie stays standing.

Glancing at both of us, Izzy lets out another breath. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Then who's Derek?" Ollie questions, eyebrows drawn together.

Fidgeting again, Izzy lifts one shoulder and grimaces when she says, "I'm not one hundred percent sure. I've never met him."

"What?"

"Ollie!" I exclaim, widening my eyes at him, trying to signal him to calm down before I look back to an anxious Izzy. "What do you mean you've never met him?"

"Uh," Izzy peeks at Ollie apprehensively before staring back down at her lap. "He called me thinking I was his friend. Obviously he had the wrong number but we kept talking and it turns out he lives around where you two used."

Ollie and I exchange nostalgic looks. How ironic.

"How old is he?" Ollie queries.

"He turn eighteen in a month and graduates this year," Izzy smiles sadly, looking back up at us. "We've sort of been talking for six months."

Now Ollie looks hurt. "And you didn't tell us?"

"Your initial reaction was why I didn't."

He nods regretfully. "Do you like this guy?"

Izzy doesn't wait a beat. "Yeah, a lot. I know it might seem silly to you since I haven't met him in person but I trust him and he makes me happy. Even if we are just friends."

Ollie glances at me with a wide grin, shaking his head.

"It's not silly at all. Macy and I started out by meeting each other through her hotline. We only met once in the five months before we started dating. I fell completely in love with her the first night we met."

Warmth spreads through my chest and I find myself smiling too, my fingers drifting to touch my engagement ring.

"That sounds like a cute, cheesy movie," Izzy analyses before shrugging. "Sadly for me, I'm pretty sure Derek doesn't feel the same way as me."

Reaching across the small base, I wrap my arms around her. "If he doesn't then he's the one missing out." Then I stand up and hold my hand out to her. "You wanna help with dinner? I'm making your favourite."

"Lasagne with roasted parsnip and potatoes?" Izzy asks hopefully, using my hand to lift herself off the bed.

"Mmhmm."

"You two are the best. Thank you for everything." Izzy hugs us both again before skipping off down the hall way, leaving us alone.

Ollie smirks at me, grasping onto my hips as he jerks me forward. "You know... You're great with her. How do you feel about kids?" He teases, nipping at my chin.

I slap his shoulder playfully.

"Slow down, Cowboy. We just got engaged, I think maybe we should wait until after the vows to think about children."

Hazel eyes bore into mine affectionately, Ollie's tone turning serious as he speaks, "You're going to be an amazing mother one day and I can't wait to be there alongside you. I love you so damn much, Fiancée."

I move my face closer, letting my lips graze his.

"I love you more, Fiancé."

♡♡♡

Author's Note:

I feel emotional, ugh.

First things first, I wanna thank you all for the undying support you have given me and this book! I feel extremely lucky and I need you guys to know how deeply I appreciate it! 😭

Secondly, this was 4,000 words and I realised that means I have written 7,000 words in total in the last 30 hours (including the last chapter.) I mean, I've written more than that in the past, but considering my serious lack of motivation lately, I would say this is pretty weird behaviour for me 😂 but I didn't want to make you all wait another month for the last update!

Thirdly, I really hope you enjoyed this epilogue and the book in its entirety! I've had a lot of fun writing it because it's different to what I've written in the past.

Fourthly, don't forget that there is still the sequel you could go read if you're not already! It's called Midnight Messages and you can find it on my profile (: It's about Ellie and Theo! I will be posting another part on this book to promote the sequel in its own update.

Fifthly, I have a question - Do y'all want a third book about Izzy and Derek after Midnight Messages is finished? 🤔 I just want to get an idea of whether or not this is something you would want, if it's not then I won't consider writing it at all since I have other writing plans for other books 🤭

Which leads me to... You are welcome to follow me if you want to read my other works or keep updated on my writing, new books and the third book (if there ends up being one!) Plus I'm always here if you guys just want to chat! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

- Chloe x

QOTB: Who was your favourite character and what was your favourite scene in this entire book? 📜