Lasted • Tuck Everlasting

The Swan Song

It's been almost a hundred years since we left Treegap. Miles and I had a small ceremony to celebrate our marriage, Jesse thought it would be funny to jump into the grand canyon.

We all looked down at the large piece of stone that was decorated with flowers. "Winnie Foster Jackson. Cherished wife, devoted mother, dearest grandmother." Mae read as my eyes got teary.

Miles nodded his head and held me in his arms. "It looks like she led the life we never could."

Angus nodded his head slowly. "Expert fisherman." He said, knowing it should be on the gravestone.

Miles looked down at me, hoping to see if I was okay. "May she Rest In Peace." I smiled knowing that she was in a better place now.

Jesse kneeled down on the gravestone. The rest of the family backed up to give Jesse a moment. "I'll always wonder what you did with the water." Jesse asked the gravestone as a sound echoed throughout the graveyard.

"Croak." The toad hopped up onto the gravestone and then leapt towards Jesse. Jesse held the toad and looked to the sky, knowing what Winnie did all those years ago. He smiled to himself as he put the toad into his bag.

Miles stared at his younger brother, smiling. "Jesse, you ready?" He asked in a soft tone.

"It's a wheel, Winnie. A ripple in water." Jesse explained as he looked at the stone, but stood up. "Girl to wife to mother to daughter, like all your kinfolk come and gone. Can't stop rowing, growing, changing then moving on."

The Tuck family all held each other as we started to leave Treegap, New Hampshire. "You going to be okay?" Miles whispered to me as I looked back in the direction of the gravestone.

"How can I?" I asked as I look back at Miles. "She took my advice." A smile crossed my face as Miles held me in his arms.