I'm Finally Wanted

Epilogue #3

*14 years later*

Raven's pov:

Here we are again. Another of my children's weddings. It's a miracle that this is even happening. I mean, I almost died. Multiple times.

Looking back on my life, I remember being a scared and along 15 yr. old. My "parents" didn't like me. My siblings didn't like me. I had no friends. I was abused. I was bullied. No one wanted me. I had no reason to live. I remember the night of my 15th birthday I was done with life. I kicked out of my house per tradition. I was alone at the homeless shelter. Sitting in the farthest corner, all by myself. I tried to end my life that night. I had stolen a pencil sharpener from school, and that's all I needed.

After that night, nothing felt the same. I felt this weird hollowness. I felt cold and numb. A few more attempts on my life later, it was my 17th birthday.

I realized that was going to be my last birthday. I had my whole plan, it was foolproof. To celebrate my last birthday, I dyed all of my hair blue. I wanted a change right before I died.

During lunch at school, I went out to behind the bleachers. There was a perfect spot to hang from. I sat there for a bit, having a little pity party for myself. Before I could even get the ropes up, some random kid came and sat on the bleachers. I waited for him to leave, because I couldn't kill myself with him sitting there. But that stupid kid didn't leave the bleachers when the bell rang. No, he sat there all the way until it was dark. School had been let out, and I was still waiting for him to leave. I finally decided to just leave once it was past 9pm. After a cold dreamless sleep, I realized I only had a year left before I could finally leave this stupid town and my abusive family. I told myself I could just kill myself when I was finally 18 if I was still miserable in a different place.

31 years later I've finally found out that the stupid random kid was actually my husband. And apparently he knew what I was planning, and didn't want to let that happen.

Even before Tyler had even said a word to me, he still kept me alive.

...

Our house is a mad house. But it always has been. Wyatt and Abbey haven't bought a house yet, so they're living here still. River and Wyatt are quite a handful. Especially when they're together.

I can't even count how many people are here. All gathered to have a celebration dinner for the marriage of River and his new wife Emily.

All of everyone's family is here. My parents, Tyler's parents. Dax and his wife, Anna and her fiancée Hayden. Maranda with her kids, their significant others and her husband. Hailey and her kids who also brought their significant others and their kids. Chris and Mel and their kid. Angel and Easton, and their kids. Abbey's parents and her siblings. Mel's parents and her siblings. Emily's parents and her siblings. Just a bunch of people. Which is exactly while I'm in my art room.

Don't get me wrong, I really want to socialize with people, I want to have nice conversations with everyone, but my problem is the people. It's too much. Every time there's that many people around me, I just loose it.

I can't even explain it. Ever since... the incident I've had a problem with it. It's like my brain just kinda shuts down. Maybe it's my inner introvert surfacing after all these years.

I have absolutely no idea what I'm painting, and that doesn't bother me in the slightest. I used to get mad when I couldn't place what I was even creating, but now I just let my emotions guide me.

If I stay away from people now, I'll hopefully be able to make it through dinner.

"Hey love." Tyler says as he rests his chin on my shoulder and watches me paint.

"Hey babe. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just wanting to hang with my wife before we go face the dinner craze."

I chuckle. "You say that like you enjoy sitting down here with me."

"Eh, I'd rather be with the love of my life then sitting around talking to people without you."

"Aww how cute!!" I joke as I clean off my paint brush and switch colors.

Once dinner is ready, Angel came downstairs to get Tyler and I, and we joined everyone. Most of them know big crowds of people isn't my thing, so they don't even question why I was gone.

"Ok everyone, I'm pretty sure why we're all here!" Wyatt says standing up getting everyone's attention. "As you know, my old man of a brother has finally decided to marry Emily. And we need to celebrate that. For the longest time I was afraid he'd grow to be even older all alone. So thank you Em for looking past his weird vocab and ugliness."

River frowns. "We literally have the same face!"

Everyone laughs at that. Even know that the boys are 20 they still act like they're 5yrs. old.

"Yea sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Wyatt says rolling his eyes as he sits back down.

Everyone starts their own little conversations with each other, and Tyler starts a conversation with Easton. Something about how's he's more successful because he has grandkids. Tyler's always trying to one up Easton because he's taller and just a little bit older.

I glance all around the table. And smile. I could've never imagined this in my wildest dreams. All these people, they're all family. We care for each other, we love each other, we have everyone's back. Back when I had just met Tyler I didn't even know what it felt like to have just one person truly care for me. It's funny how things changed. The girl who had no one, the girl who was unwanted is now so wanted it's overwhelming sometimes. Things really have changed, and they changed for the best. Despite all the bad things that have happened. The good will always outweigh the bad.

*****
There you have epilogue #3. This is officially the end of Raven and Tyler's story. Mostly. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Any guesses on who the next book is on? Give you a hint, Raven and Tyler will still be in it, just not main characters.

I love all of you!! Till next time tic tacs❤️