Absolute

EPILOGUE

The Storsen family household was full of life and laughter and music. It was decorated completely; every single room had been given lights or mistletoe or tinsel or all of the above. I'd never seen a Christmas quite like this, and by some of the guys' expressions, neither had they.

Ben assured me that it was normal, and that our Mom hadn't gone out of her way to impress me or Marie.

Lia had asked if I would be comfortable calling her 'mom' a week or so after my father had been convicted. I hadn't realized that her being okay with the concept was all I needed. I'd been afraid to refer to her as mom in front of Marie, but she'd taken up calling Lia my mom, and referring to Mareena as her mom.

Marie had even asked me if I was comfortable talking about Mareena, and I'd told her that I'd never hold anything Mareena did to me against her, as long as she'd forgive me to being blind to what she'd gone through.

It was strange, and almost too hard to believe. Only a few months ago we were living half-lives, and now Marie was getting perfect grades at the college level. She'd tested out of high school as soon as Erica had told her it was an option.

I watched as Alex convinced her to play video games with him. I smiled at the thought of them getting along. After all, they were siblings too.

I was watching everyone get along, leaning against the balcony of the second floor. I couldn't help the smile that was on my face lately, it was weird at first, but then like most other things that had changed, it started to feel natural.

I'd gotten my cast off the night before, and I rubbed my freshly healed wrist and burn free hand. The last reminder of those bad days had just slipped away. I heard someone coming up behind me, but they sounded like they were trying really hard not to give themselves away, so I allowed it.

Hands came around the front and wrapped around my eyes, I laughed, knowing who it was even before he spoke. The scar on his hand had given him away.

"Come with me, and I won't eat your serving of pie," he said.

I laughed, backing away from the rail and walking blindly to where he led me. We stopped walking sooner than I'd thought, and he removed his hands from my eyes. I spun around to face him, a smile already present on my lips.

He grinned back.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

He pointed up, and when I followed his finger with my eyes, I noticed a little grouping of greenery tied right above where he stood. I lowered my eyes back to meet with his, where I saw a question lingering.

I bit down on my inner cheek and went to my tippy toes, as he'd grown a few inches in the last months. I stumbled a bit, and his hands went out to steady me while I held onto the material of his orange colored suit jacket.

I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against his.

It was way different from my first kiss. He didn't pull away immediately like he had when we were kids either, instead he pulled me closer and tilted his head down to meet me better. I relaxed into his chest and he playfully tugged on my lower lip with his teeth.

I couldn't help my laugh, and even though I'd broken our kiss, he looked as happy as I felt.

There were footsteps nearby, and Gabriel looked over my head to see who was approaching, he didn't let go of me or pull away, and I didn't feel the need to look over my shoulder.

We weren't doing anything wrong.

"Mistletoe? Me next!"