Epilogues

Katie's POV - Five years later ...

“Riley, come over here, please,” I called out. “I don’t want you walking that far away from us.”

She turned to me, smiling that same grin her daddy always used against me, with those blue eyes of hers sparkling with mischief. I could hardly believe she was already five years old and nearly done with kindergarten. It seemed like just yesterday that we’d brought her home, both Lucas and I freaking out a bit at being parents and in charge of such a tiny little thing. That fear had quickly turned into joy and complete adoration and love for our little girl.

Riley ran back toward us with her brown hair bouncing in the pigtails that held it at the sides of her head. Lucas opened his arms and our daughter ran straight into them. He pretended to be knocked over by her and even let out an “oomph” for effect.

“I got you, Daddy,” she giggled from the safety of his arms.

“You certainly did. Mommy needs to stop feeding you because you’re getting stronger than Daddy,” Lucas teased, placing a loud kiss on her little cheek.

“Mommy won’t listen to you,” Riley said with confidence. She absolutely had her father’s unwavering confidence.

Lucas sat up, keeping Riley in his lap. “What do you want to do next?” he asked her, twirling one of her pigtails in his hand.

“I want to hear about the night I was born,” she replied.

“Aren’t you tired of that story yet?” he questioned, pretending to be put out.

“No way, Daddy. It’s my favorite. And you have to tell me about my name, too. No skipping like you tried last time,” she commanded.

Lucas chuckled and looked up at me. “Do you think I should tell her that old story, Mommy?”

“Hey, it makes no difference to me. I’m not the one who will be facing the wrath of a five year old if that story isn’t told,” I pointed out.

“Oh, fine,” Lucas sighed. “I guess I could tell it once more, but you’re getting the short version and that’s really it for today, Riley.”

“But, Daddy, what about bedtime?” she pouted, puckering out her bottom lip.

Lucas instantly caved, wrapping her up in a tight hug. “Of course I’ll tell it at bedtime, Peanut. Daddy always tells it at bedtime.”

I leaned over and whispered into his ear. “Aren’t you so glad that Auntie Sadie taught her that trick?”

“Don’t remind me,” he groaned.

“Remind you of what, Daddy?” Riley asked, looking up at him, giving her full attention.

He tapped her nose with his finger. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“You can tell me, Daddy. I keep really good secrets. Like the one about Uncle Shawn breaking Grandpa Brian’s—” Riley clapped both hands over her little mouth, her blue eyes wide with shock.

“What did Uncle Shawn break now?” I asked, laughing as I pulled Riley into my lap.

She smiled shyly at me and then buried her face against my neck. I laughed and hugged her tightly. “It’s okay, Peanut. Uncle Shawn won’t be in trouble. I promise.”

“Promise on the moon, Mommy?” Riley asked, searching my face for the answer.

“Never on the moon, Riley. It’s too fickle with the way it goes and comes, and is never the same from one day to the next. I only promise on things that last forever,” I told her.

She had heard this enough times that she knew just how it ended. “And so you promise on your love for Daddy, but only if you really mean it.”

“Exactly,” I said, rubbing my nose against hers.

“Mommy, how come if you love Daddy that much you don’t marry him?” Riley asked, playing with a strand of my hair.

I turned my head, glaring at Lucas. “You involved our baby in your scheme?”

“She begged to help me,” he shrugged.

“Mommy,” Riley called, taking my face into her little hands. She pressed on my face until my lips puckered out at her. “You didn’t answer what I asked you.”

I kissed her all over her face, getting her to laugh and squeal. “You are just too cute, little girl.”

“Daddy says that’s ‘cause I look like you,” Riley panted, as she tried to catch her breath from all of her laughter.

“Yeah, he would say something corny like that,” I chuckled.

“Hey, honesty cannot be corny,” Lucas remarked, pulling both Riley and me into his arms. “That’s better. My two favorite girls in my arms.”

“Daddy, tell my story. Mommy, tell me why you won’t marry Daddy,” Riley said before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Stubborn,” Lucas chuckled. “Wonder who she got that from.”

“Both of us,” I answered.

“Yeah, but only one of us crosses our arms like that,” he pointed out.

“You know what, Lucas Abbott, she asked for that story first, so get to it,” I told him.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Let’s see…Where to start?”

“At the restaurant, Daddy,” Riley commanded.

“Ah, that’s right. It started at the restaurant,” he agreed. “So Daddy convinced Mommy to dress up and go to a fancy dinner with him. Daddy had wanted to do something special and Grandma Becky had helped him get the reservations.”

“And you took her to the room with the teas,” Riley said.

“Hey, who’s telling this story?” Lucas asked, pretending to be upset.

“You, Daddy, but can’t I help a little?” Riley pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip once again.

“She’s really going to kill me with that,” Lucas whispered into my ear.

I turned toward him and spoke too softly for Riley to hear. “Just wait until some boy comes along and realizes how special she is.”

“What boy?” Lucas growled.

“Oh, my God!” I laughed. “You just totally growled at the idea of a boy. You are going to be so awful to her dates. I bet you make her first one ever cry.”

“I’ll do a lot worse if he hurts my baby girl,” Lucas muttered.

“Just tell the story, Harvey,” I sighed, shaking my head at him.

“I really hope this one is a boy so I can get some payback on you,” he whispered, rubbing my stomach softly.

“Mommy, do you have a tummy ache?” Riley asked, drawing my attention back to her.

“Daddy, get busy with that story,” I told him, not quite ready to tell Riley she was going to be a big sister.

“So I took Mommy to the Russian Tea Room,” Lucas said, starting the story again. “She looked so beautiful, standing next to me while we waited to be seated. After we were showed to our table, you, little lady, decided to kick Mommy in the bladder and make her have to go to the restroom. And the next thing Daddy knew, Mommy was calling him on his cell phone from the bathroom, yelling for me to come and get her because it was time to go to the hospital.”

“And Daddy had fun gloating about buying Mommy a cell phone all the way to the hospital,” I added.

Riley giggled and covered her mouth with her little hands.

“Hey, it might have taken two years for you to actually have an emergency that required the phone, but aren’t you glad you had it?” Lucas questioned.

I turned my head and kissed him on the lips. “Very glad, Harvey. Thank you.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said, still meaning it as much at twenty-five years old as I had when I’d first said it at seventeen.

“Back to the story, Daddy,” Riley demanded.

“Okay, Peanut,” Lucas replied, taking her little hand into his large one. His other hand was still covering my stomach, as if he was protecting the baby growing inside of me from all harm. If anyone was capable of doing something like that, it would be the wonderful man holding me.

“So we got Mommy to the hospital and into her room,” Lucas stated.

“And that’s when Mommy got scared,” Riley announced, looking up at me with her big blue eyes.

“That’s right. Mommy was very afraid. I didn’t know how to be a mommy back then and I was really worried I wouldn’t know how to be a good one,” I explained.

“But Mommy, you’re the bestest one ever in the whole word,” Riley assured me.

“‘Bestest isn’t a word, Riley,” I corrected. “It’s just ‘best’.”

Riley nodded her head, and I could see in her eyes that she was locking that information away for future use. She was a brilliant little girl and so far ahead of everyone else in her kindergarten classroom. And she had Lucas’s gift for music on top of her intelligence. The two of them could spend hours in front of his keyboard, working out new melodies, or playing their favorites. Of course, you can only hear “Twinkle, Twinkle” so many times before you want to lose the power cord to the keyboard, but such is the price of being a mother to such a special little girl.

“Daddy, tell how you got Mommy to not be scared,” Riley ordered.

“I climbed up into her hospital bed with her and held her close, whispering into her ear. I told her how much I loved her and that I believed in her. I let her know that she was already a great mommy for all the ways she’d taken care of you while you were growing inside of her tummy.”

“Mommy didn’t forget to eat a single time in all the months. Right, Daddy?” Riley asked, already knowing the answer.

“That’s exactly right. And Mommy gave up soda for you, and started drinking milk, even though she didn’t really like it. And she listened to everything the doctor ever told her to do. And after six hours of Mommy yelling sweet-nothings to Daddy, you finally came out into the world. The doctor put you on Mommy’s chest and Mommy couldn’t get over how beautiful you looked, even covered in yucky stuff. I could see right away that you were going to have hair the same color as Mommy’s, and you absolutely had her nose.”

“But I have your eyes and lips, Daddy,” Riley stated.

“Yes, you do,” Lucas agreed, chuckling. “Mommy told me that I could pick your name, but that it had to be a really good one or she would name you herself. And since Mommy has always been one of the bravest people I know, I wanted to make sure you got that from her. So I picked ‘Riley’ for your first name, meaning courageous. And then I thought about what made Mommy so very brave and came up with your middle name, Amor.”

“For love,” Riley giggled.

“That’s right. You are our little reminder of our courageous love,” I told her, holding her close to me. “Lots of people didn’t think Daddy and Mommy would be together for long because we fell in love when we were very young. But we loved each other so much that we didn’t listen. We just kept doing what we needed to be together. And we moved out here to New York to go to school.”

“And Daddy went to Julie’s yard,” Riley said.

“Something like that,” I laughed, looking up at Lucas.

He just rolled his eyes, amazed at Riley’s stubborn refusal to believe that she was saying the name of the school wrong.

“And now that Daddy is all graduated, he teaches at the school and works on his music,” I told her. “And someday soon, we’re going to go to the big theater to watch Daddy play for lots of people.”

“I love my story,” Riley sighed, snuggling further into my arms. “Your turn, Mommy. How come you don’t want to marry Daddy?”

“You just had to give her your single-mindedness, didn’t you?” I accused Lucas.

He chuckled, as anxious for my answer as his little partner in crime.

“Daddy hasn’t asked me right,” I announced.

“What?” Lucas yelled. “I’ve asked you over romantic dinners. I’ve asked you on top of the empire state building. Hell—”

“Lucas,” I warned.

“Heck, the last time, I asked when you were in the shower,” he finished.

“Daddy, you never asked in the park!” Riley shouted. “Don’t you know it’s Mommy’s favorite place?”

“She got your damn intuition, too,” I muttered under my breath.

“Watch your language, Dawson,” Lucas chuckled.

“Unlike you, I was talking too low for her to hear,” I pointed out.

“Move,” Lucas commanded, tapping my leg.

I huffed, but moved off of him.

He got up on his knees on the blanket, pulling out the very familiar black velvet box that held an all too familiar engagement ring. He was actually going to do it again, right here in front of our daughter. He was still absolutely fantastical, even when I felt like smacking him.

“I’ve tried being romantic. I’ve tried being corny. I’ve even tried taking advice from Shawn,” Lucas said. “So now, I’m just going to talk from my heart and hope you hear something you like. You know, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve asked, but the chase has never gotten old or boring, Dawson. Let’s revive that most archaic of institutions and make it something no one has ever seen before. Let’s be the high school sweethearts who turn into the old married couple that everyone is jealous of. Let’s make your last name match Riley’s and mine. But most of all, let me proclaim to the world how lucky I am to be loved by the most amazing woman to ever grace this planet. You’ve given me so much over the years. You gave me a road to travel when I was drifting, you gave me a purpose when I felt useless, you gave me love when I absolutely wasn’t expecting it, and you gave us both this beautiful little girl right here. You turned me into the man and father that I am today and I can never do enough to repay you for that. I know I don’t really have the right to ask anymore of you, but I’m selfish when it comes to my love for you. Katie, will you marry me?”

People had tried to tell me over the years that the magic would fade away, that our young love would wither and die as we grew and changed into new versions of ourselves. Those people were daft. With each passing day, we had only found new things to love about each other. We acknowledged and accepted every change that came our way, not always willingly or happily, but we did it anyway. We always kept the big picture in mind, which was keeping our promise to each other of always being together.

Lucas was the constant in a life that often felt uncertain. He was there in reality, and there in my dreams. With his love and support, I had overcome so many of the things that used to keep me from enjoying life and the people around me. He’d helped me take back my birthday, making it a joyous occasion, although I still dreamt my falling dreams for that week. But it really hadn’t been a falling dream since the night he’d come to my house after the nightmare where our fathers kept him from getting to me. That was the last time I’d actually fallen. Now, it was just standing on the edge for a second before going off with him to enjoy the sunshine.

Lucas was a wonderful man and I couldn’t have loved him more if I’d tried. When I’d gone through my period of writer’s block, frozen with the fear of rejection, Lucas had been right there with me. He’d encouraged me to stop writing poems and to try my hand at something new. And now, I was on my way to having my third children’s book published.

When fate tried to squash us with a night of crazy circumstances that left me pregnant, we poked out our tongues and proclaimed “na-na-na-boo-boo” to it, working out school and work schedules to fit in the little miracle that was currently staring at me. By all rights, it was impossible for Riley to be sitting on the blanket right next to me. The night she was conceived had been the first time Lucas and I had ever made love. We’d used a diaphragm and a condom, checking them carefully before ever even doing anything. I’d been deathly afraid of getting pregnant, sure that I could never be anyone’s mother. I’d grown and overcome a lot about my past, and I hardly ever had panic attacks anymore, but I knew I wasn’t in any shape to be somebody’s mother.

Lucas was as supportive with that as he was in everything else, reminding me that we had plenty of years in our future to change our minds about kids later on. So with two types of protection, I’d finally allowed myself to acknowledge the desire I had for him and in turn, allowed him to show me just how much he loved me. It had taken us three years to get to that point and it had absolutely been worth the wait. But the euphoria of showing and sharing our love in that most intimate of ways faded quickly when fate jumped in and decided it knew better than Lucas and me. Both forms of protection failed, leaving us twenty years old, still in college, and very pregnant. I’d been so lost at first, sure that life was just screwing with me.

And then I’d instantly become fiercely protective of the life growing inside of me. I wouldn’t let anyone but Lucas get near my stomach. The one time someone had dared to try and touch my stomach, I’d left them nursing a black eye—Shawn had really been shocked that day. We’d gone home to visit for the baby shower and I was talking to Sadie when Shawn popped up and put his hand on my stomach. I’d pulled my arm back and hit him with as much force as I could manage. Lucas had checked over my hand while Sadie, Lily, and Mrs. Abbott screamed at Shawn for being so stupid.

Lucas had put up with all of my quirks during the pregnancy, never making me feel like I was being absurd. Not even when I refused to sit in anything but a booth when we ate out, afraid of getting pushed into a table by someone standing up behind me.

And as Lucas had told Riley in her story, I ate every meal without being reminded. I’d never been as healthy as I was when I was pregnant with Riley, and amazingly, it had stuck with me after giving birth to her. I hadn’t skipped a meal in five years, making Lucas extremely proud of me. And I definitely wouldn’t be skipping any now, knowing that I was pregnant with our second child.

All of those thoughts ran through my mind in a matter of seconds, even though it felt like much longer to me. Lucas was smiling, patiently waiting for my answer. Riley was holding her hands together as if she was praying. I looked at the man kneeling in front of me, seeing his love and devotion clearly in his blue eyes. I would never know if it was the place, his words, or the hormones from the baby, but something changed inside of me and I knew what answer I would give him.

“How long are you going to kneel there before you kiss me and slip that ring on my finger?” I asked, smiling at him.

He grinned wickedly and then tackled me to the blanket, making sure to protect my back and stomach. “Is that a yes?”

“Are you kidding? I say that to all the guys that propose to me in the park,” I chuckled, tracing his face with my fingers.

“I love you, Katie Abbott,” he said, before pressing his lips to mine.

“Daddy,” Riley called, patting him on the shoulder. “Does that mean Mommy’s going to marry you?”

Lucas pulled away and then helped me to sit up. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto my finger. He pointed at the ring while looking at Riley. “That ring means Mommy is absolutely going to marry Daddy.”

“You and your branding rituals,” I teased, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“I am all for anyway I can mark you as mine,” he said honestly, holding my face in his hands.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve marked me as yours with number one right next to us and number two on the way.”

“Yeah, but aren’t they beautiful marks?” he asked, lowering his face to mine.

“Nothing compares,” I replied, tilting my head up and pressing my lips to his.

“You guys kiss way too much,” Riley announced.

“Is that right?” Lucas laughed, looking down at her.

“Yep,” Riley chuckled.

Lucas picked her up and held her between us as we covered her face in kisses. The two of them ended up getting into a tickle fight while I watched over them. Lucas had been right on that night in the hospital…I was not Rebecca and I would never run from him or our family. Their love for me gave me the courage to hope, and dream, and enjoy every day of this wonderful life with them. I know longer played the part of the runner—I was the one who stayed and loved with all of her heart.

Lucas’ POV

Four months after the proposal in the park…

“Tell Daddy about your imaginary friend, Riley,” Katie suggested, leaning in the doorway. She was seven months pregnant with our second child, and I was ecstatic to have gotten my wish for it to be a little boy.

The only thing I’d been happier about lately was the ring sitting on Katie’s finger. She’d finally stopped thinking of marriage as an archaic institution, allowing herself to see that it could be a lifelong commitment if the two people wanted it. We’d agreed to wait until this summer so that we could get married back home in Richmond Hill, surrounded by our family and friends. It would be a small ceremony at my parents’ home, and with Sadie handling it, I knew it would be perfect.

Riley took a big breath and then launched into her explanation, reminding me so much of my little sister, Sadie. “He’s a thirty foot high dragon, Daddy. He likes peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches for dinner. He doesn’t go to school, so he can’t read, but he likes to be told stories. And he’s blue with purple eyes and green wings, and his name is Arthur.”

“Arthur?” I questioned.

Riley shrugged. “That’s the name he came with.”

“Oh, okay,” I chuckled.

“He likes to go to the beach and talk with Pepe,” Riley informed me. Pepe was Katie’s imaginary shark, and had been a running joke in our family for many years now.

“A dragon and a shark as best friends,” I mused, looking over at Katie. “Who would have thought?”

“Yeah, who ever heard of two opposites getting along so well?” Katie teased with a smile.

“Today, they talked and talked about how the water is too cold still, but the sand is warm enough for castles and how really good daddies will take their daughters to play in the sand this weekend,” Riley said.

I laughed at her little ploy and kissed her cheek. “Sounds like they had a full day. And from what Mommy said, so did you. It’s time for you to close these pretty little eyes of yours and go to sleep, Peanut.”

“Daddy, you haven’t told me my story yet. You always tell me my story.”

“Alright. Story and then straight to bed.”

Riley turned her head toward Katie. “Mommy, can you come lay with me and listen to my story?”

“You know it’s going to take away from your time with me after the story is over, right?” Katie questioned.

“I know, but I want you to lay with me,” Riley pleaded.

“Alright,” Katie agreed as she crawled into Riley’s bed with her. Our daughter snuggled up close to her and the two of them let out matching sighs of contentment.

I smiled at the two of them, feeling so much love for the both of them, and still feeling like the luckiest man in the world to have them.

“Lucas? Story?” Katie questioned.

“Oh, right,” I chuckled. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman.”

“With brown hair and pretty eyes,” my giggling daughter interrupted.

I did my best not to laugh as I continued the story. “And while her looks were stunning, it was her heart that was the true source of her beauty. She was so loving and so kind that people couldn’t help but feel special around her and want to be near her. One day, the woman found out that she was going to have a baby with the man she loved. She was so scared at first that she actually tried to leave to keep from hurting him, but luckily, he convinced her that the only way to not hurt him was to stay and love him. The woman was still afraid, but she knew the man she loved would protect her and be there for her.”

“Because you’re our superhero, Daddy,” Riley said, twisting her fingers around mine.

I chuckled and kissed her forehead. “And once she was able to listen to the strong, steady heartbeat of the baby growing inside of her, she wanted nothing more than to love that baby. She gave up soda, started eating three healthy meals a day, and even ate healthy snacks. She would talk to her baby and play music for her, already loving her even though she hadn’t seen her yet.”

“Mommy always takes care of me,” Riley informed me. I’d stopped expecting her to listen without interruption long ago—she was too much like Katie to be still for that long.

“On the woman’s birthday, the man she loved took her out to a special restaurant for dinner.”

“The tea place, Daddy. I’m going there for my next birthday. You promised.”

“Riley Amore, let your daddy finish that story or I’ll send you to bed right now,” Katie threatened.

“Sorry, Mommy,” Riley said in her sweetest voice. She turned her big blue eyes up to me with a serious expression on her face. “Daddy, please continue.”

I wanted to laugh at her formal tone, but I knew if I started, it would just set her off and I’d never get her to sleep. So I just continued her story instead. “They had just ordered appetizers when the woman excused herself to the restroom. A few minutes letter, the man’s phone vibrated in his pocket and when he answered, it was the woman letting him know that she needed to go to the hospital. They made it there quickly and as they waited for the doctor to come and deliver their baby, the woman confided that she was scared and wasn’t sure she would be a good mother. So the man who loved her climbed into her hospital bed and held her close, explaining all the ways she already was a great mother, for the way she’d changed her eating, and the way she never sat where she could get bumped, and the way she wouldn’t let people touch her stomach. And before they knew it, the man and woman were meeting their baby girl for the first time ever. The woman told the man he could name the baby if he picked a good one, so he decided to name the little girl after her mother. He picked Riley for the mother’s amazing courage in everything she faced, and Amore for the love they shared, the love that had created their baby girl.”

“I love my story,” Riley sighed with a huge smile on her face. “Daddy, are you going to make up a story for my brother?”

“Yeah, Harvey. Are you?” Katie asked.

“I don’t know. I guess it’ll depend on how he arrives.” I leaned forward and rubbed my nose against Riley’s, making her giggle. “Will he come on time? Or will he be early like his big sister? And will it happen while we’re at home? Or maybe at dinner?”

“The park, Daddy,” Riley giggled.

“Oh, let’s hope not,” Katie chuckled.

“I’m going to be the best big sister ever. I’ll teach him to play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’, and to build sand castles, and to make up stories like Mommy taught me,” Riley said.

“That doesn’t leave much for Daddy and me to teach him, Peanut,” Katie teased, winking at our little girl.

Riley got that mischievous twinkle in her eye that made her look so much more like Katie than usual. “Mommy, you can teach him how to run really fast, and Daddy can teach him how not to be a sore loser when us girls run faster than him.”

Katie pressed her lips together, but that still couldn’t stop a few giggles from escaping.

“I see how it is,” I said, sitting up straight and trying not to smile. “Just toss your poor old dad to the side that way.”

“Never, Daddy,” Riley promised as she got up and crawled into my lap. “I’ll love you forever and ever, Daddy.”

“And I’ll always love you, Peanut,” I assured her.

It was an easy promise to keep for me because in my twenty-five years in this world, I’d still never come across anything more valuable than the love I shared with Katie and our daughter. The last eight years with my best friend had truly been the best of my life and I looked forward to each new day with her as much now as when I’d first been getting to know her. Not everyone understood our relationship, or our love of arguing and teasing each other, but everyone agreed that the love we shared was special and amazing. It was a love that had transformed each of us, helping us to grow and become better people, to become people we wanted to be and were proud to look at in the mirror each day.

It wasn’t always easy to love Katie and to know the right thing to do for her, but it was always rewarding and never regrettable. And I’m sure if someone asked her to give an honest reply, she’d say I wasn’t all that easy to love either some days. We both had tempers—although we’d learn a lot about controlling them—and we could both be extremely stubborn if we believed we were right about something. But we never grew tired of loving each other, or trying to improve our relationship, and we never went to bed angry. We never got bored talking to each other, we were never afraid of being honest, and while we didn’t always agree with each other, there was always a mutual respect between us.

The two greatest things I’d learned with Katie were that nothing worth having came without hard work and life isn’t fair. On the outside, that might sound rather pessimistic, foreshadowing a lifetime of toil for a tiny bit of happiness. But if you thought that, then you were looking at it the wrong way. When you have something worth fighting for, whether it be a best friend or a woman you love beyond reason—or maybe you get really lucky and she’s the same person for you—you quickly learn that nothing is too hard. There’s no hurdle too tall or hole too deep to keep you away, to keep from trying until you get it right. That’s the difference between a love story and a sad drama…the persistence to keep going and keep loving that other person, even on their darkest day. Because eventually, the sun will come back and either you’ll be right there to reap the rewards of your trust and faith in that person, or you’ll discover that you’re now stuck in your own dark day. After everything we’d been through together, from an absentee birth mother for Katie to an overbearing father for me, nothing else seemed like that big of a challenge. Sure, we had some overcast days from time to time, but nothing that ever made us lose hope or faith that our love was real and worth fighting and waiting for. And for being able to feel that way after everything Katie had been through, she would always be my own personal hero.

Being in love is the toughest job ever because it never stops, never takes a break. But if you can be courageous enough to stick with it and see it through, then you can have your very own love story, happy ending and all. Katie taught me that.