Winter Rose

Chapter 16: An Epilogue (Happily Ever After)

After I won the challenge we returned to school. Jessica made a public spectacle of dumping Theo, and we waited until the next week to make our relationship official. No one was surprised and most agreed we made a better pair anyways. I wore his class ring on a chain around my neck with pride along with his favorite baseball cap on my head. I tried out for the softball team and was immediately accepted. The next year Theo started trade school for an associates degree in mechanical engineering. I enjoyed my senior year of high school on the volleyball and softball teams with my best friends Em and Jess by my side. Jessica wrote off her family, who tucked tail and relocated. She refused to leave instead choosing to stay and enjoy her new found freedom. Em and Tony continued dating, and Jess actually started dating Xander in a strange twist of fate. By the time I graduated Theo and I had two proms under our belts.

By the fall of my senior year it was only my grandparents, mother, brother, and I living in the ranch. Everyone else in our pack had managed to get building loans and built their homes around our 200 acres. Damien and Diane bought the last 40 acres on our road when it went up for sale the spring after I won the challenge.  I was recruited for the CMU softball team and started working on my Bachelor’s degree in Social Work there. The commute wasn’t bad, and I was able to work on campus. The weekend after my eighteenth birthday my grandfather walked me down the aisle and gave me away to my best friend and soulmate. A wild party was thrown afterwards which involved many hungover wolves the next day. 

The following Monday my grandparents had moved to their cabin on the back of the property. My mother moved in with them. Theo moved in, moving our belongings to the master suite, making sure to swap out the King size mattress with the one that was in my mom’s room. After a mandatory week to let the newlyweds “settle in” Em took over Damien and Diane’s master suite. Steph moved into Britt and Adam’s old room. Malcolm moved into Brad and Clara’s master suite, and Henry moved into Crystal’s old room. Charlie, Theo’s cousin who was also Henry and Malcolm’s age moved into Faye’s old room. While Fae moved into Drew’s old room. It was fun having all of us together while the kids finished high school and started college. I looked forward to the rooms being filled like they were before once the other five winter pups moved in, and the other seven from my pack. Not to mention how much I was looking forward to settling down with my mate and making a few pups of our own. With the house being paid off it was nice to only have to work for paying the internet, electric, and food bills while we all finished going to school. 

The first week living together we laid out the chore chart for everyone to follow along with how much everyone is expected to pitch in for the bills. We set up a schedule for the three cars we had so everyone could make it to school and work on time. We shrunk the dining room table down to accommodate just us and set a schedule to eat and train together as often as possible. The other twelve pups would visit and stay with us on Fridays and Saturdays and every Sunday both packs got together to eat at our house. I finally got what I always wanted, a place to call home for me and my family, even though my family has now tripled in size.