(-- --)

Epilogue

Bless Our Broken Home

(December 30, 2043, Wednesday)

"Here comes the bride!" announced Thalassa as she came out of the bedroom. She was followed after by her daughter. All heads turned to Trucy. Trucy beamed and did a twirl to let everyone get a good look of her dress. The dress gave a pleasant swish.

The bride giggled happily. "I look so pretty! I wish I could wear this all the time!"

"Gorgeous," said Kyra.

"Beautiful," said Stella.

"Stunning," said Luna.

"Lovely," said Lotte.

"Exquisite," said Lisa.

"Enchanting," said Diana.

She giggled again and did another twirl. The wedding was taking place in a hotel. The price was too much for Phoenix's budget, but Apollo convinced everyone to help pay for the wedding. After all, they were all on Trucy's side of the family by blood or not. Everyone, even the children chipped in their allowances. Diana was saving up for an expensive set of paints, but she loved her Auntie Trucy more than her own art so without any hesitation, she gave away her money. Kyra was saving up for New York, but she gave away a portion of it. Now, all of the women were gathered in the hotel's bridal suite where they had helped Trucy get ready for the ceremony. Likewise, all the men were gathered in another room to help Trucy's fiancée get ready.

"You should save your smiles for the wedding and reception," advised Franziska. "Your cheeks are going to be sore."

Trucy's smile didn't fade. "I don't care."

"Auntie Franziska, did you ever smile at your wedding?" asked Diana.

"Of course I did!" she answered.

"Could've fooled me," remarked Maya with a smirk.

Franziska whirled around. "You should be lucky Miles made me leave my whip at home, or I'd hit you in a second."

"I was joking, Franziska," she laughed. "You were very lovely at your wedding."

"Only Devlin is old enough to remember it," said Maggey. "He was five at the time."

"I thought he would be six or seven at the time," said Lisa.

"Miles and I waited for two years before having Richard."

"Ooh…"

"Kyra was two, Mondo was one, and Lana was pregnant with Stella at the time," added Vera.

Stella reached over for a bowl of strawberries on the table. She took a bite out of one before taking the bowl into her hands. She offered one to Pearl on her right. "Want one, Auntie Pearl?"

Pearl gently pushed the bowl away. "N-no thank you, Stella." She turned away, a hand clamped over her nose.

Stella frowned. "Are you okay? You love strawberries."

"I-I'm fine!" Pearl quickly got up from the couch and away from the bowl of strawberries and to the other side of the room.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ema.

"Auntie Pearl won't eat the strawberries even though she loves them."

Ema raised an eyebrow and glanced at Vera who glanced at Franziska who glanced at Maggey who glanced at Thalassa who glanced at Lana who glanced at Ema.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" asked Vera.

"Tell what?" asked Trucy.

"It's Trucy's wedding day," said Pearl, clutching her stomach and bending over slightly. "I didn't want to steal her thunder."

"Tell us what?" repeated Trucy.

"Pearl has morning sickness," answered Thalassa.

Lisa snapped her fingers. "She's pregnant!"

Trucy gasped before embracing her best friend. "Why didn't you tell me?! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

"Th-thank you. But it's your big day! I wasn't going to say anything until after the wedding."

"Does Wocky know?"

Pearl giggled. "Yes, he knows. He found out last night. He offered me a strawberry and I ran out to throw up."

Vera chuckled. "So it's strawberries for you? When I was pregnant with Diana, I couldn't stand the smell, much less the sight, of oranges."

"I couldn't stand vegetables when I was pregnant with Apollo and Trucy. I was attracted more to the meat," said Thalassa.

"It was the opposite for me when I was pregnant with both with Devlin and Kyra," commented Maggey. "It was terrible. I had to eat like a rabbit."

Kyra smiled apologetically and kissed her mother on the cheek. "Sorry, Mom."

"It was meat with me, too," said Franziska. "It was nauseating."

"I remember being repulsed by eggs when I was pregnant with Mondo and Stella. Then it was milk with Luna," said Lana. "I think I was just repulsed by dairy in general."

"I couldn't eat my Snackoos when I was pregnant with the twins," said Ema. "I still don't know what it was that made me want to throw up."

"I remember that," said Kyra. "It was a dark time…"

"Klavier was on pins and needles," said Maya.

"We all were," corrected Trucy.

"More so with him. He had to live with Ema."

Diana frowned. "Being pregnant sounds scary."

"Oh ho, just wait until you reach the point where you start having mood swings," said Lana.

Everyone looked at Ema. Her mouth fell open and she crossed her arms. "Hey! Don't look at me!" she yelled.

"You were the worst when it came to mood swings!"

"What did she do?" asked Lisa.

"She's was always yelling and throwing things."

"I thought Auntie Ema does that all the time," Diana replied innocently.

Luna clamped a hand over the little girl's mouth. "Girly, be quiet," she whispered.

Ema rolled her eyes and got up from the couch. "You know what? I am going to check on the men. It's almost time." She closed the door to the room behind her.

It was silent for a second before Trucy coughed and said, "Lotte, Lisa, how's Klavier?"

"He's still living with us," said Lotte. "He's sleeping in the guest bedroom."

"You'd think that they'd make by now," said Maya.

"We thought so, too," said Lisa. "Mom has been very…guarded right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Like…she's trying to push Dad away."

Lotte smiled. "We saw them dancing in the kitchen late one night. They looked very happy and very much in love."

"What were they dancing to?" asked Stella.

"Um…we don't know the name of it," said Lisa. "It goes something like – L is for the way you look at me. O is for the only one I see. V is very, very extraordinary--"

""L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole," answered Franziska. "It's a very old song."

Lotte sighed. "It looked like they were going to kiss, but then something happened and Mom quickly ran off. She passed by us, but I don't think she noticed."

"I think now would be the time to lock them up in a closet," said Trucy.

"How clichéd," murmured Kyra. "You should use your remaining string to tie them together or something."

"Change your tactics," said Stella, biting into another strawberry.

"We've been getting them alone this whole time. Dad manages to catch on and tries to do something. Mom realizes what's going to happen and evades the subject," Lisa explained. "They can't even be on the same page right now."

"Sounds like their relationship before they started dating," commented Trucy.

The door opened. Ema was in the doorway with Apollo and Phoenix behind her. "Hey!" yelled Ema. "Come on! It's time!"

Trucy beamed and picked up her dress so it wouldn't drag on the floor.

"Are you ready?" asked Apollo.

"Of course I am!"

Thalassa kissed her daughter's cheek. "Congratulations, darling."

"Thanks Mom."

Trucy linked her arms with her brother and her father as they walked down the hallway followed by the other women.

"So I'll be expecting that grandkid soon?" asked Phoenix with a wink.

Maya tapped on his shoulder. "Nick, she's getting married, give her a rest! Don't pressure her for kids yet." She paused before adding, "Give it a week or two. Or better yet, remind her before the honeymoon."

Phoenix laughed, putting his arm around her. "It's things like that that make me love you, Maya."

"Then get married!" yelled Pearl.

Maya coughed. "Pearly's pregnant!" she announced.

Phoenix and Apollo screeched to a halt. Trucy was pulled back from the impact.

"What?!"

"Really?!"

"Mystic Maya!"

"For the love of God, just walk, you fools!" yelled Franziska from the back. "The timing will be all off if we come in late!"

Trucy yanked her father and her brother to walk again. "Come on! We'll have plenty of time to talk about this after I get married!"

(-- --)

The reception was being held inside a ballroom. Trucy wanted the reception outside, but it was lightly snowing and the weather was too cold for so many people to be outside. There was a stage where a band was playing. People were dancing on the floor. Others were sitting at tables decorated with periwinkle and white tablecloths with blue and white roses for the centerpieces. The high table was off to the side.

Ema stared out onto the dance floor. She spotted Lotte and Richard dancing together. Phoenix was dancing with his daughter. Though it was a fast song, Pearl and Wocky were slow dancing, possibly because they were being careful about their new baby. Diana was standing on her father's feet as they danced. Franziska was obviously displeased with dancing with Larry. Her husband was dancing with Lisa. Devlin had found a pretty girl to dance with.

She looked around the ballroom. She noticed Gumshoe and Maggey busing themselves near the buffet. It looked like Maggey was scolding her husband for taking so much food. She saw her sister and brother-in-law having a conversation with Trucy's new in-laws. Luna was no wallflower as she went around, chatting with the various guests. Kyra was flirting with a guy her age, and Stella was talking with Maya.

Vera came around and squeezed Ema's shoulder, sitting down next to her. "How are you, Ema?"

She smiled and took a sip of champagne. "Just fine."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I find that hard to believe."

"Why say that?"

"I heard that you've been rather guarded lately."

"Did the twins tell you that?"

"Mm."

Ema fell silent and took another sip of champagne. "Klavier broke up with that other woman, and he's living in the house again. He's there in the morning to take the girls to school. He's there at night to have dinner with us. He's there to help out around the house. It's like he never had the affair, like we're not going through a divorce right now. I should be happy."

"Why aren't you happy?" asked Vera. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes, but…I feel like I'm twenty-five again. I'm scared to open up my heart. Maybe this whole thing has made me cynical."

Vera squeezed Ema's hand. "You love him, and I know you know that he loves you. He could have asked to stay with any of us after he dumped that woman, but he wanted to stay with you so he could be very close to his family."

"But my pride--"

"Pride is a luxury a woman in love can't afford."

Ema sighed. "Sometimes I wish there was a pill you could take to make love go away."

Vera smiled wryly as she stood up and straightened out her dress. "Why would you wanna make love go away? It's hard enough to find it in the first place." She glanced up then at Ema before walking away in the direction of the buffet table.

Ema felt calloused fingertips skate along her shoulders. She looked up to see Klavier. Her heart skipped a beat. "Hi," she greeted breathlessly.

She felt her head spin when Klavier got down on one knee and revealed a midnight blue, velvet box and opened it up. She recognized it as the engagement ring Klavier gave her sixteen years ago, and there was another ring beside it. It was a simple white gold band decorated with blue and green diamonds.

"Marry me," he said.

"But we're already married…"

"Marry me again." There was a silent desperation in his eyes. "All I can do right now is say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for breaking your heart and putting you through hell." Ema opened her mouth to say something, but Klavier continued to talk. "And I know that apologies don't solve everything, so please just marry me again and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

Ema closed her mouth. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "You stupid, idiotic, glimmerous fop!" she yelled. The band stopped playing abruptly and people stopped dancing and talking. All eyes were turned on them. "Do you really expect me to cry hysterically and accept your proposal?!"

"Yes," he answered sternly, "because I love you, and you love me. I don't give a shit if you think it's corny, but I love you. I never fell out of love with you. I'm just an idiotic fop who lost sight of it."

"Did you ever regain your sight?"

"It's as clear as day, baby."

Ema took a deep breath, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Do you know what it feels like when you find out that the person you love is having an affair?" she asked. "It feels like someone kicked you in the stomach. It feels like your heart stopped beating. It feels like that dream where it feels like your falling and you can't do anything to stop it." She began shaking her head, tears falling down her cheeks like the way raindrops rolled down windowpanes. "Please don't ever do that to me again. Don't break my heart again."

Klavier reached up, brushing her tears away. "I promise. So give me a straight answer. Will you marry me again?"

Ema stared at him through her cloudy green eyes. "No…" Klavier's face fell. It felt as if she had just thrown his heart from the top of a building. "No…but what you can do is burn those separation and divorce papers and move back into the main bedroom. Then you can take me out on a date Saturday night because trust does happen overnight."

He had thought that she threw his heart aside, but it was carefully held in her hands the whole time. Klavier got up, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. And just like the night they first kissed on July 1, 2027, this moment meant everything.

(-- --)

(August 1, 2047, Thursday)

At a first glance, no one would notice the new photographs on the mantelpiece. Upon a closer inspection, new pictures were added, some replacing the old. Klavier and Ema's wedding photo was moved across the room and was replaced by the photograph taken when they had renewed their vows two years ago. They looked like they were floating on cloud nine. Even though the picture was frozen in time, they still held the same happiness in their faces everyday. Everyone said that they acted like newlyweds the two years after renewing their vows. They were that crazily, wonderfully, insanely happy.

There was a new photograph next to the ones featuring the twins. In it, they were dressed in their cap and gown, tassels moved to the left. They were proudly displaying their diplomas while showing off the cords and medals for academic and performing honor. Lisa had one more sash than her sister – the sash that proved her as Valedictorian.

The picture with all of the kids in order of age was replaced. Over the past four years, Pearl gave birth to three healthy boys, all of them nine months apart. The oldest was named Henry Winfred Kitaki. Next was Anthony Diego Kitaki. The youngest was Nicholas "Nick" Neil Kitaki. Henry was three, Anthony was two, and Nick was one. Henry's middle name was named after Wocky's father. Anthony's middle name was given in honor of Diego Armando. Nick was named after Phoenix, and though Pearl never met Neil Marshall, she found his story admirable so Nick's middle name was given in honor of Neil Marshall. Jake was incredibly happy. The picture was going to be replaced soon anyway. Trucy was finally pregnant after encountering a snag in her plan, and Pearl was six months pregnant. (She was determined to keep having kids until she had a girl. Someone had to inherit the position as Master after her!)

Lotte and Lisa bounded down the stairs, purses and jackets in their hands. They hadn't changed much in the past four years. They grew a couple more inches, and their brown hair was even longer. They looked very mature and walked with a regal air, which made them seem intimidating, yet admirable.

"We're ready!" they called out.

"I wish you both weren't leaving! Now I understand what the others were saying. But I'm losing both of my kids, not one by one!" wailed Ema.

All kids had to leave the nest sometime, and it was time for Lotte and Lisa to. Just like how they discussed it before, they were going to separate colleges. It was the first time they would be far apart for a very long time. Lotte was going to study music at Columbia University in New York while Lisa was going to attend Oxford as planned. They wouldn't completely on their own either. Kyra was studying acting at NYU, so they would be very close. Lisa was going to be living with Mondo and Stella.

"Mom, we'll call often," reassured Lisa.

"We'll email, too," added Lotte.

"Don't worry," they replied in unison.

Klavier put an arm around his wife and drew her back slightly. "Come on, Ema. We raised our girls well. They'll be fine."

"And we're sorry you can't see us off," said Lotte.

Ema elbowed Klavier in the stomach and began wiping away her tears. "It's all your fault. You should have gotten us a day off."

"We have a trial today."

"You could have gotten Mr. Edgeworth to fill in for you and have Gumshoe take my place," she reasoned.

Klavier bent down to kiss her lips, which tasted like her salty tears. "Ich liebe dich mein Liebling."

Ema melted into the kiss, humming happily against his lips.

Lotte cleared her throat. "Uh, your kids are still in the room."

Lisa flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, there's one advantage to having both of us out of the house. You can stop sneaking around and be as loud as you want."

Ema pulled away from Klavier to glare through the remainder of her tears. "You don't have to be so crass."

The younger twin smirked. "Oh, come on, Mom. We're eighteen. We know what goes on between a man and a woman in bed. I can be as crass as I want."

"Stop talking to Richard," said Klavier. "He's a bad influence."

"Even all the way from Germany," laughed Lotte. Richard was attending college in Germany. He was going to major in history before studying to become a defense attorney. His parents were under the impression that he was going to become a prosecutor. It was all a lie. Richard wanted to follow his grandfather's footsteps and not his parents'. His true goal was to one day face off against his parents in court.

They heard a car honking outside. Lotte and Lisa smiled at their parents and moved to the door to pick up their luggage.

"That's the cab," said Lotte.

Ema and Klavier picked up the remainder of their daughters' baggage and followed them outside. They packed all of bags into the trunk. When it was shut, the twins gave their parents one last hug.

"I'll call when I land in Oxford," said Lisa.

"I'll call when I land in New York," added Lotte.

Ema sighed and sniffed back a fresh batch of tears. "Don't cry, Mom," said Lisa. "Haven't you cried enough?" Ema shook her head, blinking back her tears.

"Take care, girls," said Klavier.

"Bye, Daddy!"

"Bye, Mom!"

With a smile, Lotte and Lisa climbed into the taxi. Klavier and Ema stood on the sidewalk, hand in hand as the car pulled away.

The Gavin family was not broken. It was never broken. There were times when cracks would appear, but if they were repaired properly, the cracks could be filled in properly and smoothed away. Even when the family was so far away, they were still a family. That was all that mattered.

THE END.

Well, here it is. The final chapter. I hope you guys had fun with this story as much as I did. Now time for the final notes!

Again, more references to The Women, only it's from the 2008 version. I finally had the pleasure of watching it, and I really liked it. While the 1939 version focuses on the women and their men, the 2008 version focuses more on the women and their friendships and careers and then the men. "Pride is a luxury a woman in love can't afford," is a line from the original movie. Ema's line about taking a pill to make love go away and Vera's response to that line is from the 2008 remake of the movie. I really like Vera's response because it is true. Then when Ema describes the feeling of finding out that your spouse is cheating is also from the 2008 remake.

The story was originally going to end with Ema accepting Klavier's marriage proposal and then fast forward to when they renew their vows, but I decided to take a different path. I think it is more realistic that she doesn't accept him back right away and that they work out their issues by "dating" again. That's a much better ending, don't you think?

The names of Pearl's sons are actually the names of these triplets I grew up with. Their names were Henry "Hank," Anthony, and Nicholas "Nick." Pearl's sons were originally named Henry, Aaron, and Nick, until I realized two of the three and decided to go all the way so Aaron was changed to Anthony. They're even in the order of who came out first. As said before, their middle names come from other characters. Henry's middle name comes from Wocky's father. Anthony's middle name comes from Diego Armando, and Nick's middle name comes from Neil Marshall.

The snag in Trucy's plan will be revealed in the companion piece to this story.

Oh, that's right. Don't forget about the companion piece. It will titled as "Fragments of Life." Keep an eye out for it. It'll be updated every so often. It'll just be a collection of side stories, which will be relatively short.

That's all, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading!