Rayne and Alex

Epilogue

Rayne - 10 Years Later

"Don't run around the house like that, Avery!" Alex scolds.

I smile widely and try to contain my laugh when my three year old daughter comes running into the kitchen in her diaper with no shirt on. Her usually blonde, curly hair is a giant, damp, brown mess. She runs over to me as I'm washing dishes and hides behind my legs in her innocent attempt to hide from her dad.

I turn around just as Alex walks into the kitchen with a soaking blue t-shirt and jeans. Avery sees him and giggles softly. Alex rolls his eyes and plays along.

"Hm..." he puts his hands on his hips. "Rayne, have you seen Avery anywhere?"

I bite my lip, "Nope. I thought she was with you."

Avery's giggle fills the room again.

"You see, Rayne, after her bath, Avery ran out. I didn't even get to put her shirt on before she ran away," he huffs dramatically and walks closer to me.

"Oh, we can't have that. If Avery is running around like that, she'll get sick," I say.

Alex nods, "And you know what happens if she gets sick."

"No!" Avery runs to Alex. "I no want sick, Daddy. Sick mean medicine."

I lean down and grab my little girl by the hips so I can hold her up as Alex carefully throws her shirt on over her tiny head. I kiss her head gently and take in her baby smell.

I scrunch up my nose, "Medicine is icky."

Avery nods and makes a tiny gagging noise. Alex and I laugh at her antics. A second later, the faint sound of crying fills the room. I hand Avery over to Alex and walk over to the baby monitor in the corner of the room. When I reach it, I notice the crying has already stopped.

"Everything okay?" I say into the monitor.

A moment later I get my reply, "Godmother Jenn is perfectly capable of tending to a crying child, Mommy."

I roll my eyes, "Just be careful with Tiff, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jenn grumbles. "Don't worry, Mama Bear, I got it."

"Grandma Lily is here too, so it's not like she's alone," Lily reminds me through the monitor.

Alex and I's second daughter Tiffany was born a whole month before her due date. The doctors said she was born a perfectly healthy five pounds two ounces even though she was early. Even though she's six months old now, we still get pretty worried about her. Alex especially. The poor father has his two little girls wrapped around his finger. He loves it though, and I can't lie and say I'm not the same way.

"Momma," Avery whines. I turn and place the monitor down on the counter as Alex walks over to me with Avery in his arms. Avery has her arms stretched out wide so that I can carry her. I grab her and immediately shove her tiny head into my neck. I know in just a few minutes she'll be fast asleep.

"Knock, knock," Eli calls as he walks into the kitchen. Mom and Dad follow behind him.

Mom extends her arms wide toward Avery, "Give me the baby. Grandma needs some baby time."

I hand the sleepy child over to her and kiss her cheek at the same time. I then give a kiss to Dad and hug Eli.

Over the years, Eli has grown into an amazing young man. He's twenty-three years old now and going to college to be a criminal detective. He almost graduates soon, actually. He even has a girlfriend now. He hasn't told me about her yet, but I know every time he looks down at his phone and smiles, it's because there's someone pretty special on the other end.

As for Mom and Dad? Honestly, it took me awhile to get used to them. At first, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to call them. The day Alex and I told them that we knew I'd been kidnapped, all hell broke loose. They got angry, but not with us. They were angry with Carol, my "mother." They'd immediately asked for details about my life and her life and every detail I could think of I recalled to them.

Two days later, Carol was admitted to a psychiatric facility. Three years later, she was cleared. Two years after that I got a phone call telling me she overdosed on heroine. Strangely, I couldn't seem to find a way to feel bad for her. She was the woman who raised me, yet I felt like I didn't know her at all. All her death was to me was another graveyard I passed on my drive home. I didn't even go to her funeral.

Lily helped me the most out of everyone. While Mom and Dad were fuming with anger, she helped me start my new life. She helped me enroll into college and choose all my classes. She knew pretty well what to do because she'd been through it all with Alex. She helped me choose my major, screenwriting. Lily's help has been an incredible part in why I've written and partly directed a movie straight out of college. I don't know what I would've done without Lily. And Dad obviously. He definitely pulled some strings here and there.

Jenn, well... Jenn's just Jenn. She's still my best friend. She's still short and crazy. She's finally in a steady relationship. She's been with her boyfriend for five years now and I think they're finally ready to settle down. I'm really happy for her. I'm also really thankful that she fit in perfectly into my new, crazy life and stood by me for every second of it.

And Alex and I have never been happier. After being together for four years, he proposed to me. At this time, he'd already graduated college with a major in business. Now, he owns his own construction business chain. Anyway, the day he proposed, we went to Wedge Park, the park where I was kidnapped, and we had a picnic. We'd been going there every weekend for a few months. I took him there at first so he could finally lose any of the guilt he carried from that night, but then we began going all the time. One year later, we were married at a fancy old church. Two years after that, we patiently waited for the birth of our first baby girl. Avery Porting. Three years after Avery, we had Tiffany Porting.

Now we were all together, we were all a family, and I'd spend every waking moment of my life telling everyone in it that I loved them more and more every single day. They may have lost me, and they make think that I'm the one who found them, but the truth is that they're the ones who found me and made it possible for me to be the sister, daughter, and mom that I am.