It's Only 8 Seconds

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Seventeen Years Later

My love for Austin is the most powerful feeling I have ever felt in all of my life. He makes me whole, he makes me feel things that I have never felt before. And still to this day I continue to fall completely in love with him. I could not imagine my life without him. Now at thirty-eight years old, I couldn't have seen myself living any other way. This has been perfect and I am so excited to see what the rest of my beautiful life has to offer me. I have been blessed with an amazing eighteen-year-old who is stronger than I ever was. She knows exactly where she is going on her journey. She knows that the world is her oyster. And she has over the years taken to Austin and made her the father she never had. He loved her like she was his own, I couldn't have asked for anything more. I have watched my small family grow into something amazing. Everything that has challenged me and knocked me down in my life has brought me to the place I am now, it has made me the person I am today. And I wouldn't change it for the world. I sit here now on my rocking chair looking out at the arena where my daughter River is cantering around on a horse people told her was a lost cause, but she has formed a bond with him that will outlast time itself. This is not the last time you will hear of me or my story, but for now, this is goodbye. I am handing the reins over to my little girl and letting her tell her phenomenal story of a life that is going to make headlines.