A/N: Here is the long awaited conculsion. I hope you all enjoy. Please Review!

The End

"Why are we stopping?" I asked Jacob as he pulled into the parking lot at the beach.

"Let's go for a walk," he answered with an impish smile.

"It's freezing out there," I whined.

"I'll keep you warm."
I sighed and complained, but I got out of the car curious why we were "taking a walk."

It was New Year's Eve, and Jacob had picked me up I though to take me over to his house where most of the pack and their families were gathering to celebrate the coming year together. I realized now that I was one of them, because they all accepted me as one more part to their whole. It was good to feel part of a family again.

It also had been exactly three days since Weezie and Huck had gone back home. I was sorry to see Weezie go, but Huck's insistence to the last even though Jacob and I announced that were we dating made me only feel grateful to see him gone. His hopes were further gratified when I decided to go back to Alabama for school next fall. It wasn't for him that I was going but for my family. It was what they wanted, and I would do it for them and myself.

The hardest part of my decision was leaving Grand and Jacob behind. I would be at school for several months at a time only able to come back during the holidays. I tried to push away the bad and only thought of the good about my choice.

The wind from the ocean was bitingly cold, but Jacob shielded me as best he could and held me to his side closely as we walked. Jacob didn't say anything, and I could tell something was on his mind. I left him to his thoughts and let him lead me to wherever we were going.

It was very dark on the beach, and I didn't see the boulder until it was only a few feet from me. It was where we first met.

"Jacob?" I questioned.

"Okay, so I've been thinking," he began seriously, too seriously.

"Uh-oh! That could be dangerous."

"I'm being serious," he said roughly.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm listening," I said twining my fingers with his.

"You're not going back home alone."

"I'm not?"

"No. I'm going with you. I can't be separated from you for moths at a time with an entire country between us."
"What about the pack? They need you."
"I've already told Sam and the others all know by now."

"Where will you stay? What will you do?"

"Well, that depends on you."

"Me?" I shook my head. "Why does it always have to be me?"

"Evie," Jacob warned, "I'm trying to say something important here."

I made a contrite face, and I knew he would be able to see it in the dim light. He sighed loudly and let go of my hand to rummage in his pocket.

"I thought I would live with you," he said as he pulled out his hand.

"Jacob, I would love that, but things are different down there. People look down on people living together who aren't married. I might even get kicked out of school if people found out."

"I know, V, trust me I know," he held up my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "That's why you should marry me."
"I though this was supposed to be a serious conversation, Jacob."

"It is," he said kneeling on one knee.

Shock didn't even begin to describe how I felt. My mouth dropped as the clouds moved allowing me to see Jacob's face now that my eyes had adjusted to the night. I could see he was completely serious, and his expression made everything inside of me turn to mush including my brain. He reveled a ring box in the hand that had been in his pocket, and a ring glimmered in the faint light at me.

"Evelyn Maureen Whisenhunt, will you marry me?"

Without thinking I said, "Yes!"

It wasn't until Jacob had set me back down on the ground after spinning us around in his glee at my answer that the full weight of what I'd just agreed to settled on my shoulders.
"Wait, wait, wait," I said shaking his shoulders to stop him as he tried to plant kisses all over my face. "Are you sure we should do this?"

He looked hurt by my question, but I couldn't take my words back. We really did need to talk now.

"Why shouldn't we?"

"We've only been dating for a week," I reasoned.

"So?"

"It isn't normal for people to date for a week then get married!"

"We're not getting married tonight, V."

"Engaged, then."

"What's normal about us?" I didn't answer, because there wasn't one. "Why should we do anything 'normal'? Why shouldn't we do things the way we want to do them?

"I can't bare to be separated from you, and the only way I can go with you is to marry you. I don't care if we're married. You're mine, and I don't need a ring on your finger to tell anyone that. It's other people who need the ring to accept us."

"Jacob," I groaned and hid my face in his chest. "What are people going to think? What about Grand?"

"Who cares what other people think. Dad loves you, and he's glad I'll be settling down. He thinks I've been running for too long. And your grandmother already knows I was going to ask you tonight."

"What?" I asked snapping my head back to look at Jacob.

"I had to tell her what I was asking her permission for when I spoke to her yesterday."

"What'd she say?" I asked hiding my face again.

"I wouldn't have asked you if she hadn't given us her blessings. She kissed on both cheeks, and said nothing would make her happier than to have me for a grandson."

I groaned and shook my head into Jacob's chest. I tried to let myself accept actually marrying Jacob so soon. It wasn't that I couldn't see myself married to him. It was all just so sudden.

"Are your arguments disappearing?" He asked rubbing my back gently and kissing the top of my head.

"They're gone," I admitted. "I don't really care what everyone else thinks. The most important people approve, and I think my family would as well."

"But?" He said slowly drawing out the word to three syllables.

"It's just a lot to take in, Jacob. Two weeks ago I didn't think you could ever care about me as anything more than a friend. Now, we're talking marriage. What next? Two kids and a picket fence?"

Jacob laughed and hugged me to him tightly.

"Only if you want that," he joked. "You don't have to wear the ring right now, and the wedding doesn't have to be until the summer. I was thinking a June wedding would be nice, but we could have it in July or even the first of August as long as it's before school starts."

I didn't say anything for a long time. I thought hard about it, but in the end I deferred to my gut instinct. I pulled away from Jacob and look up at him. In the faint light I saw love overflowing in his eyes, and I knew it was right.

"I think," I began running my fingers through his beautiful hair, "this is the time when you put the ring on my finger."

Jacob smiled and produced the ring quickly, and the cold metal was perfectly fitted to my cool finger. It glittered again in the half-light, but I couldn't see what it looked like until we got back into his car.

"Turn the heat up," I shivered in my seat.

I had to hold my hand steady in order to see the ring. It was small and modest, but it was beautiful and expensive looking. It looked perfect on my finger, and the rightness of all this hit me hard.

"It was my mom's," Jacob said after turning the heat up all the way.

"Really?" I looked up at him surprised I would be entrusted with this treasure.

He nodded. "We can get another one if you don't like it."

"Oh, no!" I protested gazing more appreciatively than before at the object. "I want this one. It's perfect." I grabbed Jacob's hand and entwined our fingers. "See?" I twisted so tha he could see the ring as we held hands.

"You're right." He looked back at me for a long time communicating unspeakable things that I understood somehow. "We should get going. Everyone is waiting for us."

I threw my head back against the head rest and groaned.

"They all know, don't they?"

"They will when they see this," he moved the ring around with tip of his finger.

"How bad is going to be?" I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot and reached the main road.

"Nothing you can't handle."

"Promise?"

"Promise."