The Other Side of the Door

Epilogue

"Amie, please do not slide down the banister!" I called out. 

"Mama, why can't I? Chip said that he used to do it all the time!" she whined. Unfortunately, she inherited that from me. 

"Go find your brother. Mrs. Potts said dinner is almost finished, and you both need to be in the dining room in 5 minutes," I shooed her away. 

I went to the library to find Elliot hunched over a book. "Elliot, dinner is almost ready," I called out. 

"One more minute, Mon cœur," he didn't even look up from the book. 

I laughed and walked over to him. "What are you reading, love?" 

He closed the book, turning to face me. "Antony and Cleopatra. I don't enjoy it as much as Hamlet or Macbeth, though."

I laughed. "Have you read Henry V yet?" 

He shook his head. 

"I'll be interested to see how you enjoy that one," I commented. 

We walked to dinner together, hand in hand. We ran into Amie and Valentin, our son, bickering over who got which seat at the table. 

"How about neither of you sit there?" Elliot suggested. Amie looked disgusted at the idea, while Valentin looked like he thought it was the best idea ever. 

Eventually it got worked out, and I ended up sitting in the chair they fought over. 

"How was your day, Amie?" Elliot asked, watching her little fingers grip her silverware tightly. 

"Gr-ood, bhuth Mhathma ghot mhad hat me," she spoke with her mouth full. Elliot began to laugh, but my glare cut him off. 

"Amie, do not speak with your mouth full," I scolded her. She groaned, but Elliot cheered her up by winking at her. He was lucky I let it go. 

Elliot was a wonderful father. He was really worried when we first found out we were going to be having a child. He had barely grown up with real parentage, and it had been a very, very long time since then. I always liked to joke with him that he was over a century older than our children, but he never found that funny. 

"Time stood still, Mon cœur. I did not age," he would argue. I still would give him a hard time about it, too. 

There were other things we'd joke around about, which always made the kids laugh. Amie thought it was hilarious when I called Elliot "Prince Elliot". Elliot had decided he didn't really want to fight whoever was ruling, and so we decided we'd just remain in the castle as normal people. 

The servants all stayed, as well. We gave them the option of leaving, if they chose. They had spent over one hundred years in service, after all. They all decided they wanted to stay, though, which made me very happy. They were all my best friends, of course. 

Marriette and Lumiere got married, as well. At first we were uncertain of their match, because she was so sweet, and he was... a flirt. They were truly in love, however, and got married one year after Elliot and me. 

Hortense and Cogsworth also got married. They had  one child, Ophelie, who was the same age as Amie. They caused quite a bit of chaos around the castle, but it was good, because it kept the servants on their toes. 

Danielle, my sister, never came to visit. We visited her once, but she was never bothered enough to come visit us. She never married, although she had many boyfriends throughout time. Neither my father nor I ever told her the story of the curse and how I met my husband. She hardly cared, though. 

Tatienne, my oldest sister, married and had five kids. She brought them to the castle once, but her family lived in England, so it was hard for either of us to visit each other. 

My father visited all the time. Since he rarely saw Tatienne's children, he was always spoiling ours. Amie and Valentin certainly didn't mind. 

Our lives weren't perfect, surely. I traveled to Switzerland frequently to sell novels I had written. As a female, it was very hard for me to sell my writings. I used a fake name and sold them in Switzerland, however, and they sold fairly well. 

Elliot had begun painting, as well. He had painted when he was a young man, but apparently during the curse he had stopped. Once the curse was broken, he picked the hobby back up. It had now become his career. 

Love was a powerful thing. Even though our lives weren't perfect and always wonderful, we certainly were happy and grateful to be alive and well. We loved each other, and that was what mattered most. 

We lived happily ever after, but most importantly, we loved.