151A/N: Here it is, finally. The epilogue to this story. I want to thank all of you who to the time to read this story, and even more so each one of you who took the time to review. I appreciate every single one of them. Please don't forget to leave a review for this one.
August 7 2010 – 10:33 am – Monroeville Alabama
"Are you ready?" Cooper asked as he looked at the woman sitting next to him.
"As ready as I'll ever be." She answered.
Cooper showed her a sympathetic smile, then opened the door on his side of the car, got out and walked to the passenger side of the car to help Charlotte out.
They slowly made their way to their destination. Walking slowly, hand in hand. If you looked closely you could see she still limped a little from the accident, but most of all she fully recovered. Fortunately there were no complications from the brain trauma and all the broken bones healed just fine. She was tired a bit faster than she used to but she learned to cope and tried to take things as easy as possible.
Today was a difficult day for Charlotte. It was exactly 18 years ago that Jack died. After his funeral she never went back to his grave. But this year she felt like going. After she told Cooper about the marriage, and even more so after the accident, she thought about her son a lot, and missed him more than ever. And this year, it was time to say goodbye for real.
When she asked Cooper if he would accompany her to Monroeville he didn't doubt it for a second. He let her take care of the plane tickets and yesterday they finally flew in. For the first time in a long time Charlotte actually looked forward to stay with her mother for a few days, even given the circumstances to why they were going.
"It's right there." Charlotte said, as she pointed to a small headstone standing in between many large ones.
"You go ahead." Cooper said, knowing she would need a while alone.
Charlotte nodded to let him know that's what she wanted and he squeezed her hand before he released it. She noticed she felt nervous as she walked to the small grave. But she was brave and kneeled down in front of the tiny head stone.
Jack Armond August 7 1992Our baby boy, who never had a chance, but who will be in our hearts forever
"Hey sweetheart." She whispered, as she traced the headstone with her fingers. "I'm sorry I've never been here before." She swallowed, and noticed the grave was kept clean by someone. So someone had been taking care of her baby boy. She wondered who that was. "I'm glad someone took care of you here, when I couldn't. I hope you'll understand I never forgot about you. I just…. It was hard for me to come here. I still feel guilty that I couldn't have kept you safe that day. But I understand now that there was nothing I could have done. I just hope you're in a good place, where someone loves you as much as I do."
She swallowed hard as she had to wipe the tears that were rolling down her cheeks away. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and she sensed someone kneeling down next to her. She looked up, expecting to find Cooper's eyes, but was surprised to see someone else. The man looked familiar somehow, but she had to blink twice before she realized who it was. "James." She whispered.
"Hello Charlotte." James replied as he studied the woman he once married.
She looked down at the headstone, then back up to her ex-husband. "Do you come here often?"
"Each year on his birthday." James said. "I never saw you here before."
"I couldn't… before. But I came now." She said.
"I'm glad you're here. Do you need some more time with Jack?" James said, and this was the first time Charlotte heard him say his son's name.
Charlotte shook her head. "I just wanted to say goodbye." Then she looked back at the headstone and whispered. "I love you baby boy." Then kissed her fingers and placed them on top of the headstone, lingering them for a few seconds before she pulled away. After that she stood up and told James to take his time.
She walked back to Cooper and was surprised to see a woman and two children next to him.
"Hello." She said, when she reached the small group. Then she reached out her hand to the woman. "I'm Charlotte."
The woman took her hand. "I'm Louisa." Then she pointed to her two children. "This is my daughter Abby, and this is my son, James Jr."
"We all agreed that it would be nice to go and get something to drink together. Is that alright with you?" Cooper asked, as he grabbed Charlotte's hand in his.
"That would be nice." Charlotte said, although it felt a bit awkward to have her old and her new husband together. From the way Cooper squeezed her hand she realized that he knew how she felt.
After a few uncomfortable seconds James found his way to the group. "Shall we go?" He asked, when his hand found Louisa's. "There's a nice diner not too far from here. You can follow me if you like. Unless you know a better place." He said, facing Charlotte.
"You lead the way. I haven't been here in quite a while."
"Alright then." He replied, as they all started walking.
A couple of minutes later they were all seated at a table in the diner, their drink orders already taken by the waitress.
"So," James said, realizing no-one made an effort to talk. "I think Louisa introduced herself and the kids."
"She did." Charlotte replied. "And I'm sure Cooper introduced himself too."
James nodded. "It's weird isn't it, seeing each other after all this time."
"Yeah." Charlotte whispered and under the table Cooper's hand found hers again.
"I didn't know you remarried." James said, as he looked at Charlotte's other hand that was lying on top of the table.
"Two weeks ago actually." Charlotte replied with a smile. "Cooper and I have been dating for a while now, and it was time to make things official."
"No honeymoon?" James asked, surprised the two of them had only been married for such a short time.
"We went to Paris for one week." Charlotte replied.
"Ah, the city of love." James smiled. "When Louisa and I got married we didn't have that much money so we went to Florida."
"Miami has beautiful beaches." Louisa said and Charlotte nodded.
"We never even went on a honeymoon." She said while looking at James. "It was a different time back then. But I'm glad we both found someone we love now. Things did turn out okay."
"Yeah. Although I still miss Jack. I don't think about him every day. But I think about him often. He would have been 18 now."
Charlotte nodded. "I know how you feel James. It's nice that your family accompanied you to his grave."
"We go every year. And the kids came ever since they were babies. I want them to know they had a big brother."
"We know dad." James jr. replied. "I just wish he would have stayed alive so we could have played together."
"I know honey." Louisa said, as she patted her son's shoulder.
"Why didn't I ever get another brother?" James jr. asked and his father laughed.
"You already have a big sister."
"I know. But she hates soccer."
"I do." Abby nodded in agreement. "But daddy always tells us that we should be happy with what we've got Jamie. You know that."
"True." The young boy sighed as he took a sip of the coke that was placed in front of him.
"Do you want children?" James asked Cooper.
"To be honest we found out that we're expecting last week." Cooper replied proudly, as he squeezed Charlotte's hand under the table.
"That's wonderful." James said as he congratulated the newlyweds. "A marriage and a baby. I'm really glad things worked out for you Charlotte."
"Right back at ya." She said, and then smiled, because James was right. A couple of months ago she wouldn't have thought things would turn out okay, but they did. She survived the accident and it actually made her a better person, and Cooper as well. And now they were married, and expecting a child, and life was better than she could have ever imagined.
The end