EPILOGUE
Three months later.
Today, Kanye and I are having a barbecue at our house with family and friends. He thinks I woke up this morning and just wanted to have a barbecue just because, but I have a surprise for him. I’m going to surprise my whole family.
I glance around the yard and smile. It looks beautiful. Kanye hung fairy lights around the trees, the fence, and our back porch. He really went all out for just a barbecue, which is a bonus for me because it means when I surprise him, it will be in a beautiful atmosphere and most importantly, at our home.
I’m in a group with Lily, Jake and some friends of ours talking. I touch my back pocket and feel for my surprise. A smile graces my lips as I think about how shocked and happy I know Kanye is going to be. It’s almost time.
I search the crowd for Kanye and my eyes land on Alexa. She’s laughing with Nick. It’s the fake ‘I’m giggling so hard because I’m hurt’ laugh. Alexa and Joseph weren’t around during the week after the attempted kidnapping. However, Joseph came to see me before he left for his uncle’s house in Mexico.
“Emily, there are no words I can ever say to you to right my father’s wrongs. But I want you to know, I will do everything in my power to make sure my family never touches you or your family again.”
I asked Joseph not to go. I told him it wasn’t up to him to right what his father did or what his uncle may do. We all urged him to stay here, with us, and start a new life. But he was determined to leave.
Alexa was heartbroken. She begged him to stay. She pleaded with him right on our front porch.
“Joey, once before you chose to stay at your father’s to help Jake. I understood that. I wanted to leave so badly, but I understood you wanting to help him. Now, I’m begging you. Choose me. Stay here and forget that life. Start a new one with me.”
“Lexie, I can’t just sit back and let my uncle keep digging into my father’s death. If he finds the answers, they are going to lead him right here.”
“There isn’t anyone left but us, Joey,” Alexa says frustrated. “Everyone else is dead. There’s no one to tell him anything.”
“No, I’ll go. See what I can find out and hopefully stop him from starting what my father created.”
“And me? I’m supposed to wait around again. Wait to see if you come out alive? Once you enter that world again, Joey, you won’t be able to escape it.”
“I will, Lexie. I’ll come back. I promise.”
Joseph steps to Alexa but she moves away from him shaking her head with tears trickling down her face.
“No, you need to choose. You stay here with me or you go to your uncles, but if you go, we are done. Forever done. I don’t ever want to see you again.” Alexa’s chin quivers on her last words.
“Lexie,” Joseph whispers. “I need to do this,” he says softly.
Alexa gasps out in shock. Joseph isn’t choosing her. I can see the pain on her face that even threatening their relationship isn’t changing his mind.
“You need it more than you want me?” Alexa asks, her voice painfully sad and her tears coming fast and heavy.
I go to move to her, to comfort her, but Kanye doesn’t release me from his arms and shakes his head sadly at me.
Joseph says nothing. He just stands and stares at Alexa. The torment of what he’s doing to her is written across his face.
“I’ll be back for you, Lexie, no matter if you want me in your life or not. I’ll be close by.” Joseph walks down our porch steps toward his car.
A loud, brutal cry comes from Alexa and then she screams, “I hate you, Joseph O’Connor! You’re just like your father, an uncaring monster!”
After Alexa lands those hurtful words, she spins and races into the house.
Joseph’s face goes pale and his shoulders slump. It’s the first time I’ve seen him look truly defeated.
He gets into his car and drives off.
I look up to Kanye with glassy eyes. “He’s making a huge mistake.”
Kanye kisses my temple and says, “I know, baby, but that’s for him to figure out and hopefully, not before it’s too late.”
That was six weeks ago. The guys had been receiving secret phone calls from Joseph for two weeks. Kanye said he was just checking up on Alexa and letting the guys know everything was going fine at his uncle’s.
Then the calls stopped. They’ve tried to find him, but it’s as if he’s disappeared. Dead maybe. I shake the thought from my mind. We haven’t told Alexa anything. All she knows is, Joseph left her here alone and she is on a one-way street of heartache. She goes out a lot, drinking, meeting new guys. Pretending she’s okay when it’s clear she’s in so much pain.
I understand now how everyone saw right through me. When you care about someone, you notice these things. You care if they are happy or sad.
Suddenly, the lights go out and the backyard glows with just the fairy lights. I look around, confused, and everyone grows silent. Then I hear my name.
“Emmy, where’s my girl?”
I step through the crowd and find Kanye standing in the middle of my rose garden. He’s changed from shorts and a polo shirt into black slacks and a light blue collared shirt. He looks devastatingly handsome.
“Come here, Emmy.” He motions me with his hands.
My palms instantly sweat and my heart jumps around my chest at his gesture.
I walk toward Kanye, the boy I love so deeply and the man I will always cherish. Kanye’s grin is cheeky and it lights up his whole face.
I come to a stop in front of him and straight away, he gets down on one knee.
Tears swim in my eyes, blissfully happy tears.
“Emmy, I’ve considered you mine since the first moment we met and I saw you had the face of an angel. Then I fell harder when you showed me your loving, carefree nature. Life has tested us, and we have survived our dark days. Now it’s time to live in the light and have our happily ever after.”
Kanye lifts a small ring box from the ground. He opens it toward me and in it sits a beautiful diamond ring.
“Will you marry me, Emmy?”
Inexpressible joy flows through my body. My heart and stomach in a flurry at how to express how happy I am. I don’t think there are words or actions to show what I’m feeling right now, just my happy tears and my smile on my face.
“Yes!” I shout so everyone and the whole world can hear that I’m going to marry my best friend, my lover, and my savior.
All around us our family and friends clap and cheer, yelling out their congratulations.
Kanye places the diamond on my ring finger and gazes at me with a brilliant, handsome grin. He tips his head down and kisses me while his warm hands tenderly stroke my cheeks. He kisses me gently, as if it’s our first kiss. Kanye moves his hands from my face to my waist and pulls me closer. One of my happy tears falls to my chest and then I remember that this moment is about to get even better.
I pull back. Kanye’s smile distracts me for only a moment before I say softly to him, “I have a surprise for you too.”
His features show a small amount of curiosity and then he grins mischievously at me. “Oh, yeah, a surprise I’m going to get later on, when everyone is gone.” He waggles his eyebrows and I burst out laughing.
“This is something I can share now,” I explain.
Kanye doesn’t say anything he faithfully watches me with a mix of confusion and excitement.
I pull the positive test out of my back pocket and hand it to Kanye. When he realizes what he’s holding he inhales sharply. “Emmy,” he breathes my name out in shock.
“I’m pregnant, Kanye.” I softly say to him. “I’m five weeks. I took the test this morning. I missed my last period and I felt off the last few days so I decided to take the test. I stopped taking my pill two months ago. I wanted to tell you so badly but I wanted to surprise you more when it actually happened. I smile up at Kanye, but all I see on his features is still confusion and worry.
“Emmy, I thought you said—” I stop him before he can finish the sentence.
“I know what I said. I was lost and hurting then.” I grasp Kanye’s face between my hands and look him right in the eyes. “That day I came to Applebee’s to find you; I did that because I had the most beautiful dream of us and a little girl. She was our daughter and our lives were amazing. Filled with love and a special girl whose giggles still float through my mind to this day. I was coming to tell you I wanted a family.” I place my hand on my stomach. “You loved me at my weakest. Now trust me at my strongest. I want this.”
I watch as tears escape from Kanye’s eyes. “I’m so fucking happy.” His voice is thick with emotion. “If it’s a girl, let’s call her Rose.”
Warmth radiates through my body and my heart soars to unreachable heights. “Yes,” I reply, as many more happy tears continue to fall.
Kanye takes my mouth quick and hard before releasing me and yelling out to the whole back yard, “We’re having a baby!”
Everyone gasps and begins cheering. My mother’s squeals of delight being the loudest. She races over to me and shakes my shoulders while tears cascade down her beautiful face.
Surrounded by our family and friends, who are congratulating us, my heart is close to bursting. I look around and admire what my life is now, and I’m blown away. So thankful I never gave up, even in my darkest days, this is what I was fighting for.
I search for my big brother and I find him standing on the outside of the crowd, holding Lily in his arms, both of them smiling at me. The two people in the world, other than Kanye, who know what this moment truly means to me. I smile at them and then look to the heavens.
I am Emily Roberts.
I am a survivor.
I am happy.
I am loved, greatly.