Chapter 35 - Epilogue

Ten years later…

Life had been great for us. It seemed like every struggle we had turned into a triumph. The proof of my words was on the sign before me. The Cullen Bed and Breakfast was officially open for business, and we specialized in spa retreats.

It had been Eddie's idea to open a bed and breakfast in our house. We didn't take him seriously. We had five kids and him, all living in our five-bedroom home. There weren't extra rooms. He kept pushing the idea all the way to his deathbed. He got the last laugh though, or in our case, he gave us a sweet blessing when he passed.

His will insisted we use his life insurance money to buy the lot across the street from our house and build a new home for our family. Once completed, we were to turn our old home, (his old Victorian house) into a bed and breakfast and use Grandma Elizabeth's fine linen, china and serving dishes. Elizabeth's dishes were beautiful and would be perfect for the bed and breakfast. We had kept them all, but we didn't use them every day. The dishes weren't childproof, and I didn't want them broken by unsteady little hands.

The backyard was developed into a place that felt more like a retreat and had a path that led to the back of the spa.

Our salon was officially a spa, and over the past ten years, it had been expanded and remodeled twice, eventually eliminating the upstairs apartments altogether.

Once we had reopened after the fire, our small business had grown quickly. There weren't any other spas in the area, so we had cornered the market. Spa treatments were perfect gifts and great to celebrate life events. We tried to keep things affordable, to encourage causal self-pampering appointments, and we had done well.

Our first daughter, little Elizabeth, had spurred the idea of opening a daycare area for our patrons. It didn't come to fruition, though, until after our identical twin boys were born two years later.

To Jerry's great pleasure, we named the boys Jerry and Edward Cullen, after their grandpas. We were thankful he was able to meet our boys, before he passed away. We had seen less and less of him, after Alice had moved in with him and took over his care. When Alice and Jasper were married a year later, Jasper took over the heavy lifting that Edward used to do. Alice shouldered the majority of Jerry's care, while she worked from home. She was able to do so, because Esme's estate was rather large, even after being split three ways. We were all able to pay off our bills and put some money into savings for a rainy day.

When we went through Esme's stuff, we found several of Grandma Elizabeth's heirlooms she had taken. Thankfully, they were returned to us by Alice without incident.

When Jerry passed away, he left his home and most of his possessions to Alice and Jasper, and the little bit of insurance money was split between the three families. I watched eBay for a while, wondering if I would need to buy anything of sentimental value of his, but Alice never listed anything. I think she had finally learned the importance of family heirlooms. I knew Jasper was a good influence on her.

We used our money from Jerry's estate to buy the building next door to us. We renovated it into a childcare center and expanded the spa. We hired more people and offered more services, including yoga and pilates classes, which were very popular.

I still worked part-time through it all, grateful for the flexibility the daycare gave me. The others took advantage of the daycare, too. Rose and Emmett set about making a whole passel of children. They had us beat at six kids, and I didn't plan on catching up. Laurant and his partner adopted two little girls, and he happily brought them to work with him. Jasper and Alice had four children, and they seemed to be content. We had been content at four also, but our youngest daughter, Mabel, was a welcomed surprise, and her sister, Renee, who was four years older than her, was excited to be the big sister for once.

With only little Mabel at home, while the rest of the kids were off at school, it was decided that I'd run the bed and breakfast portion of our business during the day, and Jane would run it at night. She still worked in the spa during the day and lived at the bed and breakfast, happy with her new partner, Alexa, who was our cook.

Besides our website, we advertised as far as Portland and Seattle on TV and were booked solid for the next three months. Eddie had been inspired, and we were grateful that he had insisted we open the bed and breakfast. He was greatly missed.

After Angela and Ben were married, she decided to quit, not wanting to make the hour drive daily anymore. Ben encouraged her to try and open her own little place in Forks. Edward and I couldn't pass up the chance to invest and expand our business. Angela now ran The Cutting Edge II, a thriving little salon in downtown Forks.

Edward came home smiling after a long day of managing the spa. "Did you hear?" he asked.

"Hear what?"

"Rose is pregnant again," he said, wrapping me in his arms and kissing my neck. "You know, Mabel is three now..."

"No," I cut him off. I knew what he wanted. Five kids was enough.

"You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Unless you plan on carrying the baby yourself, the answer is no," I put my foot down.

"Come on," he teased me a little more. He was definitely not the naive man I had originally married. He was well versed at satisfying me in the bedroom now, hence the five kids. It didn't help that he was so dang cute with our babies, that I had happily given him more. "We can make a little Charlie," he coaxed.

"Don't, Edward," I moaned, trying to stop him from clouding my mind. It wasn't working. I had to get out of his arms, before he convinced me to try for baby number six. Somehow, instead of getting away from him, I ended up pinned under him on the bed.

"Mabel would probably be in preschool before little Charlie showed up. It'd be perfect timing."

"I…" I lost my train of thought, as he worked me over. I was so going to end up pregnant again.

My fool of a husband finally convinced me to have baby number six. After a few months of thoroughly enjoying not using any birth control, I was pregnant again. Had Mabel been a boy, I had wanted to give her the name Charlie, after my dad. This next baby would either be named Charles or Charlotte after my him, but no matter what, they were going to be the last baby.

Billy and Clara were thrilled to hear they had another grandbaby on the way. Clara wasn't able to have children and happily claimed us as her own. Billy had ended up marrying Widow Clara Uley, who had lived across the street from my house in Forks. Their relationship had developed, while he was trying to keep tabs on Leah. Then he took it upon himself to look after Clara, while Leah was serving her thirty days in jail.

Somehow, Leah and Tanya had crossed paths and ended up together. I wasn't sure how it came about, and I didn't care to ask. That was a match of two crazies made in heaven. The pair moved away and hadn't kept in touch.

Billy maintained his residence in La Push, so he could keep his title of Chief, but they actually lived in the house across from Jacob and Vanessa.

Jacob and Vanessa were married two years after Jacob had moved in with her. Billy walked her down the aisle, just like I knew he would. She made a beautiful bride. We were all so proud of her for overcoming her fear and anxiety. They had three children, two boys and a girl. William, named after Billy, Jacob Jr. and Sarah, named after Jacob's mother. Billy and Clara doted on all of our children, happy to be grandparents. I was so happy to have them in our lives.

Jacob and Vanessa had purchased my house in Forks shortly after they were married. The two bedroom home was fine, when they only had their little boys, who shared the second bedroom. When they found out they were pregnant with baby number three and she was a girl, they hired Emmett to build on an addition in the back. Downstairs now had a new master bedroom and bath, along with a little half bath for company to use. The home was beautiful, but still looked like my father's place. I was thankful they had kept it and chose to renovate it, instead of selling it, so I could still cherish the memories I had of my father when I visited them.

Edward and I had discussed me getting my tubes tied after baby number six was born. He was okay with it, and I was thankful that he was supportive of it. Of course, our agreed upon baby number six ended up being babies number six and seven, a set of fraternal twins. I now had a Charlie and a Charlotte. I had the doctor tie my tubes, while he had me open for the C-section. It was official, we were done. We had the house full of kids and white picket fence that Edward had always dreamed of. We loved our life and our family. With all our family and friends, we felt blessed and complete.