Love After Divorce

~Epilogue~

Christmas Day, 2018

Melanie sighed looking at the remnants of their Christmas celebration. Bending over she picked up a stray piece of wrapping paper that had been missed in all the excitement of the day. She felt Chris wrap his arms around her from behind, kissing her neck.

"I'd say today was a success," Chris mumbled into her ear. "I think the kids had fun."

"Mmmm," Melanie mumbled sinking back into her husband. The past year had been a whirlwind of ups and downs. The twins, Xavier and Xander came early on January 16th, both identical much to their parents delight. The months following were trying on Melanie. She as so thankful when Mary Beth arrived and was willing to stay to help her balance the twins and Thomas and Jessica for a month. Melanie had opted not to return to work after the twins were born and relished being a full time mom again. Chris loved having her home, all four of the children thrived.

In February the family moved into a larger home. Melanie and Chris had fallen in love with a spacious five bedroom home that was a little outside of town. Chris loved the family room that was big enough for a pool table while Melanie loved the fireplace in the living room and the large master bedroom and en suite bathroom. Jessica and Thomas were thrilled it had a pool and a big backyard. The kids loved how Chris took their first few weekends and spent the time with them to build a treehouse. It was a favorite spot for the kids to play in.

David had relinquished his rights to Jessica and Thomas in early April. Tammy took the news extremely hard, she was unsure as to what her son was thinking. Sadly because of the choices David and Sara were making, his relationship with his children and his mother were completely nonexistent. True to his word, Chris still included Tammy in every aspect of the kids lives and often had her join them for their Family Friday Fun game nights that had continued after their marriage.

At first things were hard for the family, especially after David relinquished his parental rights. Jessica and Thomas felt abandoned and lost and Melanie being so busy with the twins only compounded the problem. However thanks to Chris' persistence and patience the children began to thrive and flourish.

The family took a small vacation to the mountains in the summer. Jessica and Thomas loved Tennessee and visiting Dollywood. They stopped off at Mary Beth's house on the way home and loved being throughly spoiled by their Nana. The highlight of the trip was seeing Tabby's new twins and playing with all the cousins. The family agreed that they needed to get together at least a week every summer and were already planning a vacation for the following year.

In September, the kids surprised Chris by asking if he'd adopt them. Melanie had no idea they were even talking about it since they had been calling Chris Daddy since May. Chris was thrilled with the idea and Melanie wasted no time calling her attorney to set the adoption into motion.

Finally they were here at Christmas. Their house had been filled this day. Mary Beth and come down and they had been joined by Tammy and her new beau, Jasper. That was relationship that was certainly a surprise to Melanie but she was thrilled for Tammy nonetheless. It was finally nighttime, a little after 9:30, and Melanie had just gotten the twins to bed. Jessica and Thomas had been asleep for almost an hour. They were exhausted especially since they had awakened the entire house at 5:00 that morning.

"It was a good day," Melanie smiled and turned toward Chris, "but it's not over yet. I still haven't given you your big gift." Chris' eyebrows rose up and down and he started to pull Melanie towards their bedroom.

"Hang on," Melanie said laughing at what Chris thought she meant. "Your gift is out here under the tree."

"What?" Chris asked peering at their tree that had the lights glowing lightly in the dark living room. "I don't see anything under there." Melanie just grinned and went and pulled a thick Manila envelope out of the branches. She led Chris to the couch and turned a lamp on as she pushed Chris onto the seat. Watching her closely he took the heavy envelope and opened it slowly.

Chris began to pull the paperwork out, noting the name of the attorney across the top. Melanie watched the play of emotions run across Chris' faces while he was reading. She saw the tears gather in his eyes as he pulled out the last pages, the two legal documents from the state of Florida.

"Really?" He smiled blinking at her. "They're mine! They're Waters?"

"Yes, the attorney sent the paperwork over last week. The kids are officially Jessica Marie Waters and Thomas Lee Waters."

"Oh Melanie," Chris said while some tears escaped. "Do they know?"

"Not yet, I figured you'd want to tell them. But that's not all." Melanie grinned pointing at another sealed envelope that had fallen into his lap. She couldn't keep the excitement off her face and Chris smiled back wiping the tears from his eyes. Before he opened the envelope he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.

"I don't know what could top this," Chris said with a huge smile watching his wife smile back at him. 

"Just open it," Melanie grinned. "You don't know if you don't open it."  Giving Melanie another quick kiss, Chris opened the envelope and pulled out the black and white image.

"Are you serious?" He asked. "How, I mean when, I mean how?"  Chris asked her staring at the image in shock.

"I think you know the how," Melanie grinned at him. "As for the when, I'm seven weeks along so I'd say it was when Tammy took Jessica and Thomas for the long weekend after Halloween."

"Wow," Chris gasped. "We're having another baby! I can't believe this. Wait," he said staring at Melanie. "There's only one this time right?"

Melanie giggled. "Yes, there's only one. I don't know what I'd do if there was two again."

Grinning at her, Chris scooped Melanie into his arms and started rushing to their bedroom.

"Wait," Melanie said "I still need to put away the cookies and."

"And nothing," Chris grinned at her. "I need the rest of my Christmas gift and I know for sure its wrapped under this Grinch shirt." He smirked at her bouncing her into their bed. Melanie laughed up at him as she grabbed him by the collar and pulled his lips to hers.

"Best Christmas ever," Melanie whispered against his mouth.

"Wrong," Chris said in between kisses, "best life ever." Melanie melted into him them. Suddenly Chris pulled back and gazed into her eyes. Melanie watched him amazed at the sheer volume of love she found there. "I honestly and truly love you Mel," Chris finally said. "Forever and always."

"I love you too," Melanie whispered back. "Forever and always." And with that they reminded each other just how much they loved each other and the family that they had created.

~The End~