Note - I added 4 chapters to finish this yesterday. So make sure to start at chapter 43. I think a lot of people are just reading the last chapter and you are missing the whole conclusion :-/

1995

Jon had started a fire in the fire pit once the sun set and Catelyn had brought out blankets to keep them warm. They still hadn't moved from the deck. They had spent the entire night enthralled in Sansa's story. Now the sun was starting to come up.

They sat wrapped in blankets, Catelyn tucked in with her grandmother. Jon stood by the railing looking out towards the ocean. Sansa was exhausted and almost seemed to be asleep. Catelyn didn't dare move but she felt torn, it seemed like her grandmother and her father both needed her.

When her grandmother had revealed that Willas was not in fact his father, Jon had become angry and had stormed off. Sansa had continued to tell Catelyn the rest of the story.

She told her granddaughter how Robb's death had sent her back to Nottingham. She hadn't wanted to go but she knew she needed to honor her promise to her brother. She had often wondered if Robb had paid a price for her lie, for her hollow promise to him.

She had stayed in Nottingham until the war ended and then that summer Willas Tyrell tracked her down there. It had touched her heart that he had remembered her and had come looking for her. They had gotten to know each other during his time in the hospital. He knew she had a son, that much of her family had died. He also knew she had sworn to never love anyone else, and despite all that had still come looking.

He worked to get to know her remaining family, especially Jon and Rickon. Over the next several months they built a very deep friendship as she tried to move forward. She focused on building a life for the son that she had finally allowed herself to love, but she had continued to be very clear to Willas that she could never love him, or anyone, the way she loved Jon Snow.

Willas for his part had accepted that but he hoped that she might one day want to let him in and maybe learn to love him in a different way. He revealed that he had thought about suicide in the hospital when they had first met. She hadn't known then but he had lost both of his brothers in the fighting and had awoken only to be told that he might never walk again. He had fallen into despair, but then he had started to watch the sad pretty nurse night after night, and when he had finally spoken to her she had sparked something in him. She had somehow unknowingly given him purpose, saved him, and now he wanted to do the same.

Sansa had told him he owed her nothing, but he persisted and had told her he would wait as long as was necessary because he knew that they were meant to heal each other. Sansa had laughed him off, she had started to convince herself that she was healed. She had no more nightmares and Jon was her joy. It was the most optimistic she had been since she had been a child, since before the war.

Then in the early winter of 1945 a letter arrived from Oakenshield for Edmure. It was from the local government and they were trying to sort out the farm. They had been able to confirm that Brynden had died in the camp on Guernsey, apparently trying to organize an escape, which meant Edmure was considered the surviving heir. That letter brought everything back, the nightmares started again. She became consumed with thoughts about everyone that she had left there and how they thought she was dead. She started to have panic attacks and wanted nothing more than to get as far away from England and the reminders of the war.

She had gone to Willas and told him this. He offered to marry her and take her to The States with him. She refused at first, she told him he deserved someone to love him better than she ever would, but he told her again his only desire was to make her happy, to save her from all the pain and sadness. And so in her desperation she had finally agreed.

They married shortly after and she moved with him the States. It had pained her to leave Roslin and Edmure. They had been so good to her and they were going to keep Rickon and raise him. That had broken her heart a bit, but they were the only parents he had known and she had forfeited that right when she had fled to London in 1943. They did however agree that he could come visit them often and in fact he had spent most of his summers in their home.

Catelyn had noticed that her father had heard most of this because even after he had stormed off he had lurked on the edges of the deck, just outside the light of the fire, listening. Eventually he had come back on the deck and had stood near the railing as Sansa neared the end of her confession.

He looked back at her mother and his daughter snuggled together on the sofa and sighed. He walked over to them and sat on the edge of the table facing them. Catelyn gave him a sad smile. She could only imagine what he must be feeling, he had just learned his whole life was somewhat of a lie. She cursed herself for the hundredth time in the last several hours for pulling her family into this project.

"Mom," Jon said softly trying to rouse her. He didn't seem so angry anymore which surprised Catelyn. "Maybe it's time we all went back inside and got some sleep."

Sansa's eyes open and she reached out and took one hand from each of them. "I'm so sorry." She was looking at Jon, her face begging forgiveness, tears forming in her tired eyes.

A look of understanding passed between mother and son. Catelyn turned and hugged her grandmother. "Thank you for sharing your story Gran, for being brave. I'm sorry it hurt you. I love you."

"I love you too sweet girl," Sansa sighed.

"I'm going to go in," Catelyn said wanting to give her father and grandmother some time alone. They watched her go and when the patio door closed they turned back to each other.

"Willas was a good man, he loved you and treated you like you were his. I told myself that was one of the reason I didn't have to tell you," Sansa began. "But I was just trying to make it easier on myself and that was wrong. I should've told you sooner. It's just that I knew if I told you you'd have questions, questions I never felt ready until now to answer.

If it matters Willas always said we should tell you, I'm the one that refused. I had decided once I left England I was closing the door on that part of my life and I never wanted to open it again. It was just too painful and he respected my wishes to the grave."

They sat quietly then studying each other.

"I can imagine that it wasn't something you decided lightly. What changed your mind? I mean it's been nearly fifty years."

"The same thing that changed my mind about marrying Willas. The letter from Jon. I read it again in the attic after Catelyn asked about the war. I just…. Somehow I just knew it was time. I should've never kept the truth to myself. Honestly I have wondered over the years how much Jon and Arya have come to resent me, maybe even hate me for pretending that none of it ever happened."

"I think they would be both be proud that you managed to survive and build a life. I think that is what they wanted for you, why they sacrificed for you. You were a family and that's what family means."

"Thank you for saying that," Sansa said as she wiped away her tears and they exchanged a long embrace. She pulled back and regarded her son, he reminded her in that moment so much of his father who she still so fiercely loved.

"To be clear though, I'm not saying I'm over it. I'm still in shock and I am going to have a lot of questions once I process this, but you are my mother and I love you."

"I know, and I love you too."

After a few more moments of silence Jon stood to go in the house and asked her if she was coming, she told him she would be along in a moment.

She sat looking at the coast, feeling lighter now that the truth was out there. She said a silent prayer thanking God for giving her both Willas and Jon, for while she had never stopped loving Jon she had over the years built a life with and had grown to love Willas in her own way. She hoped her son's words were true, that Jon had understood why she had stayed silent all these years. The sun was starting to come up. She hoped despite the secret she kept that he was proud of how she had raised his son into an honorable man just like him. She prayed he would be at peace now knowing she had finally told their son the truth; that she had not taken that to her grave.

And then she closed her eyes and she said one final prayer, this one to Arya. She thanked her for bringing Jon into their lives, for protecting her and saving her all those years ago. Lastly, she apologized for taking so many years to finally be as brave and honest as she had been. With that Sansa opened her eyes and stood to go inside, but as she did something made her pause. Her eyes scanned the beach and there just on the edge of the woods sat a fox. It regarded her for a long moment and then turned and bounded off, and if Sansa didn't know better she would've swore it had given her a nod before it went.