An: Over the Years..

It took me some time to get here. This was where I have always seen this story ending up. I'm happy and sad to be at the ending. I loved writing these two so much!

Chapter sixty-two: Epilogue

Bella Whitlock…

"Seriously?! Seriously, Hope? Why do you get to give him your present first?"

Here we go. It was always the same argument. The boys wanted to first their older sister in giving their father his birthday present and Hope never let them win. I have tried to get her to placate them over the years, but she would say, "Where's the fun in that? I'm their big sister, Momma. I'm supposed to be the pain in their asses. They've gotta have someone who doesn't fall for their charm to give them a swift kick of reality."

My daughter was not a pushover. Never have been since the day she could talk.

Hope has been charming us her whole life. And gotten away with it a few times. Her father was her weakest victim. If Hope so much as looked sad, he wanted to buy a damn country to make her feel better.

I have been the voice of reason and the hardheaded one who mostly said 'no' to the kids, over the years.

My life since 2011 when I ran from James Carter and found myself in the warm clutches of the Whitlocks has been a joy. Life has never been about pain and torture and humiliation with my family. With Jasper. It has been about love, joy, excitement, surprises (as in my last pregnancy), pleasure and laughter.

I have hardly stopped smiling since I married Jasper. Our children have also been the greatest achievement I have ever had. I loved my family with my heart and soul. My eldest, Hope, was my miracle. A few years later, her twin brothers (I couldn't believe they were twins even after Zafrina told me for the millionth time that they were two heartbeats), but Adam Jasper Whitlock, affectionately called 'AJ' and his brother born just a few minutes after him, John Charles Whitlock otherwise called 'JC' because there was no way on earth his brother was getting a nickname and he didn't, were a nonstop roller coaster ride I have yet to get off of and now they were teenagers.

"Mom!" JC called.

Yes, it was now time for me to intervene and demand on their behalf that Hope allow them to give Jasper their presents first.

"Yeah, baby!"

My blond haired hellion, who was the splitting image of his father, came storming into the kitchen. I had just pulled the ham out of the oven. I was finally finished with my part of the Christmas feast.

"Mom, Hope's being unfair," he huffed. I secretly loved how his blue eyes sparkled when he was angry. It reminded me of Jasper when he was determined about something.

"How so?"

AJ waltzed into the kitchen with his younger brother, Aidan, who couldn't wait for his girlfriend, Marley Sue, Peter and Char's daughter to arrive with her parents. I swear my boy has been preparing all day. It was a joy for my fourteen year old when Jasper and I along with Peter and Char decided to allow him and Marley Sue to date.

It wasn't easy for Peter. Like Jasper, he was overprotective of his three daughters.

"Mom, she does it every year," Aidan said. My God, he sounded so much like his father since his voice changed. Sometimes, Aidan would call for me and I swear it was Jasper.

"I know, but it's the order. You guys go by when you were born. Hope came first. Hope goes first."

Everybody let out exasperated sighs. I want to laugh. I loved how competitive and straightforward my babies were. They never back down from a fight. Whether it was with a sibling or a stranger, they stood up for whatever they believed in.

It had gotten them into trouble at school more than once. Jasper and I have been called more than once. Hope punched a boy in middle school because he was teasing her constantly about being a boy. Hope had been quite the little tomboy when she was younger. She was a spitfire as Jasper and Maria called it. She backed down from nothing. Teachers, rude classmates, no one.

AJ and JC were heartbreakers. Both were sixteen years old and I already see girls turning up at my door to speak, I was using that word lightly, with my boys. They have been caught in the eraser room at school making out with girls. And then there was the fling with the school nurse for JC. And the thing with the French exchange student/teacher's aide for AJ.

Jasper blamed himself. He felt it was some sort of curse off of him for the sexual fiend he was in the past. I told him it was hormones.

Aidan, that was my other little fighter. He has boxing lessons with Sam to control his temper. But he has used those skills to defend Marley Sue and her younger sister, Joanna, more than once.

My kids were teased sometimes for being rich kids. A few could never understand how down-to-earth they were. They had fancy things but they didn't let it define them. Jasper and I had taught them better than that.

"Alright, this year, I'm going to solve everyone's problem. You'll see," I said to my sons.

Christmas dinner/Jasper's birthday was an enjoyable affair as always. The kids were having fun. We, the adults, were talking and laughing and reminiscing. One of Jasper's arm was around my waist while he held our youngest daughter, Gabriella, in the other arm.

Tanya made me laugh with something Edward did and Edward rolled his eyes at me. I looked across the room and caught Peter's eye and he winked. Emmett waved and Rose smiled at me. I felt another arm wrap around my waist and Maria kissed my cheek.

We were older and believed that we were wiser. Life had thrown us some curve balls, but we got through. We have lost and we have gained. Uncle Liam hasn't been with us for the last three years since we lost him to colon cancer. Uncle Eleazar died from a brain tumor. I was there in the hospital holding Aunt Carmen's hand when he took his last breath. Each death hit my husband hard. I was there though. I was there to keep him afloat. I was his comfort and his shoulder to lean on and to cry on.

As I looked at the family I couldn't help but feel blessed. Yes, we had lost, but we were still here. Still together. Maria's cancer was in remission. She wasn't scared though. She told me, any day she went, it would be right into John's arms. In his arms, there was nothing to fear. It was our secret. I wouldn't tell her children. She made me promise.

For my family, Charlie and Sue have been married for years now. Char and I couldn't be happier for them. With every anniversary they have, we smile because Charlie and Sue found the happiness they deserve.

My mother laughed at something JC said to her, making me look over at them. She was leaning on her cane and smiling at her grandson as if the world spun because he willed it to. Renee loved her grandkids. Renee has never walked again without the assistance of a cane. She was disabled. The attack had left irreversible damage. Her stroke added to that damage.

It was a hard road to forgiving Renee for what she had done to me. It was Jasper who awarded her the right to see them, to talk to them and be around them. I was a tougher nut to crack. Esme tried to talk to me in private sessions and jointed session with both Jasper and Renee, but I wouldn't budge. I couldn't forgive her. It was devastating for Renee and tiresome for me. But I was relentless. This woman had abandoned me when I needed her most. She turned her back and allowed a monster to take control of my life, almost ending it. If it weren't for Phil, God rest his soul, I wouldn't have the life I was living. I wouldn't have my kids. I wouldn't have Jasper.

So I didn't understand why I should forgive her.

I was so headstrong. Esme said it was expected. I hadn't been using that side of my personality and it was time to.

"Bella, you have to move on," Jasper said. This argument wasn't the least bit interesting. It was probably why I was doing my best to ignore him. "Don't ignore me!"

I flashed my head around so fast, I almost gave myself whiplash. "Don't you dare! I've heard enough bullshit about forgiving and the good I'll feel afterward from Esme. Be on my side, Jasper! You know what Renee did! You remember! It's not that long ago!"

My husband got up from the bed and came over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, his flat, muscular stomach bumping into my slightly protruding one. I was carrying our little girl. It was the last baby. I warned Jasper. If he knocked me up again, I was going to kill him. "Baby, I want you to be free. All these years, everything else in your life has been about happiness, success and great sex with me." I rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn't help stop the smile from forming. He was right. The sex was still great. "Renee has been a source of darkness for you. Not being able to forgive her and move on from the past is haunting you. I need you to let go, baby. I love you. I'll love you forever and I'm begging you to let it go. It's not worth it anymore. She's grateful for you. Somehow she understands that now."

"Oh really?" I scoffed.

"Really," Jasper said confidently. "Let it go. I'm putting my foot down, woman." He laughed and I laughed along with him. "Let the hate you feel for Renee go. Then, you will see. You're gonna see how great it is to have that burden lifted from your shoulders."

He pulled me into a kiss that melted away all my troubles as all of Jasper's kisses has done in our years together.

As I looked at Renee now, speaking to Esme and Carlisle while their kids talk to mine, it made me smile instead of frown. Jasper had been right. To let go of the burden of hating her was a relief. It felt good. As good as the day I signed over every property James owned to the Carter family and after I let them take what they wanted to bury him, I donated the rest of his money to charities that supported abused women and children. It seemed fitting to me.

Sam and Emily were off in the corner. He was whispering something in her ear to make her giggle. Sam was a great friend to me. I was lucky to still have him in my life.

"What are you thinking about?" Jasper whispered in my ear with a kiss to my neck that made me swoon. He was still the most handsome man I have ever met with his curly blond hair. He kept it short now and if I looked closely, I could see the few gray hairs he had. He claimed the kids caused it. His muscular physique was still exquisite and his blue eyes still sparkled with love and mischief. He was as bad as his kids when it came to mischief. It was where they got it from.

"Yeah, mommy, what are you thinking about?" Gabriella asked. She was always concerned about me. My little princess. Being the baby of the family granted her the privilege of having a couple of overprotective siblings to watch over her.

I tickled her tummy and she laughed. I loved her little laughs. "I'm thinking about how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to be your mommy."

"I love you, mommy," she said, opening her little five year old arms for a hug I was more than willing to give.

I hugged her and kissed her hair. "I love you too, baby. With all my heart."

JC clink his glass with a fork. "Everyone, it's time to exchange presents. Please move to the living room."

We all followed my son's instructions. He gave me a pointed look as I entered with his dad and sister. Yeah, I remembered the plan. I nodded to him and JC smiled.

Hope stepped forward. "Hello, everyone. It's been a great day and I'm happy to be here for another Christmas with my family. I thank God for sparing us throughout the year. I thank him for my parents, my family, and my crazy siblings whom I love more than anything." Hope was very good at speeches. She was an opinionated girl. She, like her younger siblings, saw no point in not arguing their way through any confrontation.

Jasper said she was the replica of me. I loved him even more the day he said it. He proved to me that my husband never saw me as weak.

"Today is also a blessed day. It was the day my father, Jasper Whitlock, was born. He has been a force in my life. From the moment I could understand who he was to me, I have looked up to that man with love and respect. He is our backbone. He is our negotiator with mom when we want something she has refused." Everyone laughed. My kids sometimes called me 'The Warden' when they couldn't get their way. "Dad has also been the source of fear for the few guys I have dated." We laughed again. Jasper wasn't joking around when it came to his kids dating. He advised the boys to respect the girls they dated. He wasn't easy on them because he said he knew what they were thinking. He thought it when he was their age. His girls, well, I think he almost caused a boy to piss his pants because he wanted to take Hope to a homecoming dance. And recently, when she and her boyfriend broke up after he cheated on her. It took me and his friends, his mom, and our boys to stop him from heading to NYU to kick the punk's ass. Actually, I wasn't really into stopping him. And I did punch the asshole in the face when I visited my daughter earlier this year and saw the idiot who dared to break my baby's heart.

Jasper laughed his ass off when Hope told him on our return home. I think Tanya was rolling on the floor. Peter high fived me.

"My dad, in my eyes, is the greatest dad in the world. He has a beautiful soul and I love him with everything I have. Dad, JC, AJ, Aidan, Gabby, Mom and I are the most fortune people on this planet to have you in our world. You are our light." Tears pooled in Jasper's eyes. Gabby and I wiped away a few that fell. "I would like everyone to join me in wishing my hero, my father, Jasper, a happy birthday," Hope concluded, raising her glass to her dad who had tears in his eyes. I wiped them away and kissed his cheek. Gabby kissed the other.

"Happy birthday, Jasper!" we all said.

When time came to hand Jasper his presents, I made sure his family and friends went before me and the kids. When it was time for us, I decided to switch things up. We all gave him his gifts at once, making Jasper laugh when we all kissed or ruffled his hair. He insisted on kissing me on the lips making our kids go 'eeww' and Hope and Gabby on the cheek. Our boys tried to fight him off when he kissed them on the cheek too. It was funny when JC tried to hide behind his uncle Emmett and Jasper demanded he come over to him so he could kiss him.

We couldn't stop laughing at the look of defeat on JC's face while he mumbled and dragged his foot.

As I looked on at my wonderful family, I could see nothing but pure happiness.

It was been quite the journey to be here. It was a tough road to Jasper. I had lost so much. I almost lost my life. I didn't. I made it to him. I made it. Every day I woke up feeling like the luckiest girl. My life, my career as a caterer, my husband and kids, my stepbrother and his wife in France, my father and Sue and Char and Peter, my friends, Rose and Emmett, their kids, Maria, who saw a girl worth saving, Edward, who never let me feel sorry for myself, Tanya, my best friend, their kids, who were my god kids actually, it was all a blessing.

Life has never been sweeter. I have lost and I have gained life, love and family along the way.

My name is Bella Swan-Whitlock and this was my story.

The End.