Plum Blossom | Completed

Epilogue

Five Years Later.

"Mommy, I'm going to marry Connor," nine-year-old Amanda declared to her mother who was amid setting up for Madeleine's fifth birthday party.

"Don't you think you're a little too young for marriage right now?" Mellisa asked her.

"That's why I am going to wait till I'm your age before I let him propose," Amanda stated.

"And what makes you think that Connor wants to marry you, ladybug?" her Uncle Kyle asked, stepping into the kitchen followed by his wife.

Kyle and Olivia had dated for another two years before he got down on one knee. Olivia had said yes even before he popped the question, and they'd had a court wedding a week later.

"Because Connor likes me. He's always nice to me," came Amanda's response.

"So, it's that simple, huh?" Olivia asked her.

"It could be. Why does it have to be any more complicated than that? If two people like each other, they should be together," Amanda shrugged before running off, presumably to find Connor. Those two, despite their five-year age gap, were usually stuck at the hip.

"That girl is something else," Olivia said, shaking her head with a smile on her face.

"She definitely has the makings of a lawyer," Mellisa commented.

"Then I'm doing something right," Kyle commented with a shit-eating grin on his face. Amanda and Kyle remained as close as ever. She would constantly follow him around when they were together, and Amanda would latch onto every word he said, long after the others grew tired of his legal mumbo-jumbo, they called it.

"We need more men in this house," Jackson said, entering the kitchen just then. He looked like he had just been in battle.

"What happened?" Mellisa asked him, trying to keep a laugh from slipping out.

"I was trying to get Maddy ready since Charlotte's on a call with her assistant. But Maddy is so fussy about her clothes, and Amanda was no help either. That girl does not mince her words. She told me that I am a fashion don't, whatever that means. Apparently, pastels are in season now, and I got the fabric of Maddy's dress all wrong," Jackson winced. "I really need my man card back Mel," he pleaded.

"I'll handle them. You finish up here. Where are they?" Mellisa asked, heading towards the staircase.

"In one of their rooms. I don't know," Jackson said.

"Oh, and Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be sexist," Mellisa said as Olivia whacked him over the head, causing Mellisa to laugh at their antics.

They'd all grown much closer over the last five years. While Mellisa was studying for her medical degree, she was also helping them take care of Maddy. She'd moved into the master bedroom at their parents' house. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but none of them wanted to change anything.

So, the siblings, their significant others, and their children happily lived under one roof. It was an unusual set-up, but it worked for them. They always had friends over as well.

Mellisa reached up the stairs looking for Amanda and Maddy. She found them in Amanda's room, who was trying to style her cousin's hair while teaching her ways to grab a boy's attention.

"Amanda, stop teaching Maddy these things. She's too young for it."

"But mommy, if she doesn't start now, she'll end up like you," Amanda defended herself.