Making a Difference ~Book 2 of The Difference Series~ [BWWM] (Major Editing)

「Epilogue」

This chapter is dedicated to
jaedskn (Welcome to the hopeless romantic family!)
@soulshadowolf (thanks for all the votes!)

One Year Later

If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have never believed that I could have been as happy as I was in this very moment. I thought I had lost everything between the two miscarriages and two failed attempts to adopt. But, the truth is, I had actually gained a whole lot more.

The truth was, my family had grown. Bigger than I could have imaged. I put the earrings in my ears as I sat in front of the vanity in my wedding dress. A knock came on the door and I turned around to face the door before telling them "come in".

Maria entered the room with Amora and Nikita and I smiled. I was happy to see they had made it. "The girls just wanted to give you something before you walk down the isle."

"Really?" I asked as the two had ran over to me. I tried to picture what the two had wanted to give me right before the wedding, but came up empty.

"W-we wanted to g-give you t-t-this," Nikita said as Amora handed me a box. I eyed the two curiosity before opening the box. Inside was a blue bracelet inscribed with the words love, faith, and hope. Now I had something blue for my wedding. Not that I was superstitious or anything like that.

I looked up at the two girls speechless. "Thanks for giving us all three,"Amora said.

"No. Thank you for being here today and thanks for being apart of my family," I responded with a smile before looking up at Maria and saying "all of you".

"You're welcome," the girls said together before taking out running of the room.

"Be careful girls! And don't go too far!" Maria yelled after them before turning her attention back to me. "There's no need to thank me. I wanted to be here." She shrugged softly. "After all, you were there when my daughter needed you most. You even gave me another chance at raising my daughter," Maria replied. She gave me a reassuring smile.

I put the bracelet on my left arm as I looked at Maria. Something told me she really thought I was going to take her daughter from her. So I decided to put her mind at peace. "Maria, I would have never taken you to court to fight for custody unless I needed to. I wanted Amora to have a chance at growing up with happy. She wanted her mother and you wanted a chance to be her mother. You seemed like you were finally ready for a change. And who was I to take that second chance away? You both needed that chance. No matter how much it hurt me at the time. Things happen for a reason. Whether we understand it at that moment or not."

The silence in the room seemed to go on forever as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Thank you," Maria finally said.

I nodded. "We all need a little hope in our lives. It's why we named our daughter Hope. Leo was the blessing I needed in my life. Because of him and our daughter, I was given the hope I needed and I was saved from the traumas that had made me come to a pause in life. Now go get the girls ready. I got to finish getting ready for the wedding."

Maria only nodding and closed the door.

xxx

I walked down the isle with my mom holding onto my arm. I was able to see that Nikita's two sisters and their dad had made it as well. They sat next to Nikita who sat next to Amora and her mother. Even Amy and Chad had made it. I had spotted a few rows down sitting together on the edge, The two held hands which only warmed my heart because the two were still together.

It felt like a dream as my mom gave me away at the alter and I faced the love of my life. The man who had saved me from myself. I had turned my life around and it was thanks to Leo for giving me that nudge.

"And do you, Louise, take Leo to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," I responded.

Ben gave Leo my ring as his best man and Kitty gave me Leo's ring as my maid of honor as she held our daughter. We exchanged rings and we could barely wait to kiss each other once the minister told Leo he could kiss the bride. All our family clapped and we broke the kiss.

I couldn't stop smiling because this was one of the best days of my life. And it was only the beginning. We would have our ups and downs, but, in the end, we would still have our family. And that's all I really needed.