Chapter Twenty: Epilogue

2014 Words
It was a couple of hours before Mrs Blackwood emerged from the back room, face tired, but filled with relief and tinged at the edges with fondness. She informed them that she had been speaking with her lawyer and was officially serving her husband with divorce papers. She couldn't stand by him after all that he had done, and although it was sad and it brought her grief to end things, she felt that she couldn't continue on the way things were.  She hugged them all, and cuddled with them on the sofa, all of them snuggled together comfortingly. She cried for a while, they all did, overwhelmed by all of the events that had taken place, all of the turmoil and mixed feelings and the emotional exhaustion. When they had calmed and let out all that they had been holding within, Mrs Blackwood asked Hazel how things had gone with her parents. She had overheard some of it, but had missed the majority.  They recounted it for her and explained that they would be gone for good. Mrs Blackwood hugged Hazel again and told her how proud she was of her, that she had held her own and stood her ground against them. She knew how hard it was to stay strong and steadfast when faced with betrayal and mistreatment from the people you should have been able to trust and rely on the most. There was a quiet in their lives for a while once Hazel's parents were gone. There was nothing that they could do legally to force her to do what they wanted, so when she turned them away, they had no choice but to leave her alone. If Hazel chose to kick up a fuss in court, it would only mean bad publicity for them and a stain on the reputation that they had spent so long fabricating.  They really shouldn't have put all of their eggs in one basket with Hazel, assuming that they would always be able to control her, that they would always be able to hold power over her and manipulate her. Hazel had put up with so much of their abuse and poor treatment, of their inconsiderate behaviour and she had survived it, moved beyond what they wanted from her.  Hazel was her own woman, her own human being and she vowed to never allow anyone to push her around ever again, never force their wants and goals onto her when she wanted to follow her own. She had dreams, beliefs and values, goals for her life and her relationships and her career. It was short-sighted of them to ever think that she would elect to give up even one aspect of any of that for their selfish desires. Hazel was ready to continue her life anew, to enjoy her new friends and family, her new town, her home, her loyal and beloved Samoyed,  and her budding relationship with who she knew would be the love of her life, her fated partner, Luna. She was so glad that the drama that had tried to follow her to her new life was gone, that that incredible weight was gone from her shoulders. She could finally be who she had always wanted to be, who she knew she was her whole life, underneath the layers of fancy make-up and expensive clothes. She really admired those women who could walk around in heels and put on a full face of makeup every day and feel empowered and confident with it, but that had just never been what Hazel wanted for herself. It was someone else's life and not hers. Three years later... Hazel had woken up with the sunrise, Luna in the bed next to her, still sleeping soundly. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders like a shining, golden waterfall.  Hazel's own hair had grown past her shoulders by a few inches, although she had been keeping it that length on purpose, not liking it to get in the way while she was working. She breathed a sigh of contentment and twirled the charm of her grandmother's necklace around in her fingers idly. The metal of the chain sending little patches of reflected light dancing across her hands and the underside of her chin. She had never been so complete. She woke up to the sight of the woman she loved every morning since the official move and was excited to wake up to it every day for the rest of her life. Luna had moved in with her not long after her cousins had moved back to the village with their kid  and they had had another child together since. A baby girl who they had named Lila. . They were lovely folk, having accepted Hazel into their family as Luna's fated mate without batting an eye. They didn't care that she wasn't a Moon Wolf like them. Fated mates were fated mates and fate didn't lie and it didn't ever make mistakes.  Mr Blackwood had moved away from Fernwood following the divorce, to another territory within the vastness of Bleydh Forest. They didn't know to which territory exactly, and they didn't care to find out. It had been a stressful and emotional process for the previous Mrs Blackwood, and she had asked that they call call her "mum" or "aunty", or to call her by the preferred one of her middle names, Eve.  They had all settled on lovingly calling her Aunty Eve and she seemed to be very happy with it. Her widowed sister, Cynthia Melrose, moved back to the village when she had heard news of the divorce and had moved back to live with her and to run the farm together. Alex and Sovereign still lived in the house with Hazel and Luna and the four of them couldn't be happier. Sovereign had really come into himself and he and Alex were openly affectionate with each other. It was such a wonderful sight to see.  Alex still helped out at the farm and Luna still worked at the stables, Hazel had her job blogging and copywriting. Sovereign had taken a while to figure out what he wanted to do with his life now that he had settled down somewhere permanent. It was foreign to him, never having known it before. However, Alex had convinced him to set up an i********: account for his paintings one lazy afternoon, and the account had steadily gained traction over the course of a few months. Emboldened by his new follower count and the plethora of kind comments, he started taking painting commissions and selling his work online. He also managed to sell a fair few of them at village fairs. He grew his confidence and skill along with his own unique style and before he knew it he had found his niche.  He, along with the others, was happy in what he was doing, and fulfilled. They were all so proud of him and Hazel was the one who could happily boast that she had been his first customer, buying one of his larger works to go up in the back room, where it could stand out colourfully against the stark white wall where it was displayed. Everything in their lives was going well and they were happy. Sure, there were still bumps in the road and not everything always went to plan, but they worked through it as a team, as the family that they had become. Hazel would never want to be anywhere else or with anyone different. Being in Bleydh forest, being in the town of Fernwood, in her grandmother's home; it was where she was supposed to be.  She wanted to use her time to do the things that she had always dreamed of doing. She wanted to go for long walks in the woods, smell the fresh air, free of the city's smog, she wanted to hear the canorous tunes of different birdsongs. She wanted to sit by the lake with Luna and watch the dragonflies with their delicate wings and shiny, metallic bodies and count all the different colours that she could see. She wanted to watch the leaves change their colours and speckle the ground with vibrant, warm tones as they fell to the paths of the woodland trails. She wanted to wrap her favourite scarf around her neck and admire the twisting branches that towered above. She wanted to step out in winter and smell the crisp scent of snow and berries in the air, shovel the snow from her driveway and make snow angels in the garden behind the house. She wanted to show Floss her first proper snow. She wanted to kiss Luna under the first sprig of mistletoe to be hung in their living room doorway.  She wanted to start a small vegetable garden and keep a collection of cacti and succulents in the back room where they would bask in the sun that cast through the French Windows. She wanted to grow carrots and runner beans and little cherry tomatoes. She wanted to watch the frost thaw and the first daffodils of Spring burst forth from the warming earth.  She wanted to learn more about herself, about who she was and about her history and lineage, she wanted to delve into the books of the library and learn everything that she could of her sweet grandmother and the incredible life that she lead. She wanted to know about the Moon Wolf blood that ran through her veins. Somewhere very close to her, she was a sparrow and she was also a wolf. She wanted, needed to know all that she could, to learn everything that was available to be learnt. She wanted to get to know the other people of the village, so she could call them all by name, she wanted to feel the connection to her fellow human beings, that sense of community that she had been lacking her whole life. She wanted to hold hands with her girlfriend, laugh and smile with her friends, she wanted to grow closer to them and feel herself glow in their presence.  She wanted to watch them grow together as people and as a family, she wanted to see them succeed and find their happiness, she wanted to run with them through the woods, bounding and filled to the brim with joy. She wanted to evolve as a person while she was there, she wanted to bloom and follow the seasons as they came and went. She wanted to grow old there, in the depths of the forest named Bleydh and return when it was time, to the soil and earth from which the forest grew. What settled within her heart was a knowledge, was a profound faith that everything that she wanted, everything that she had dreamed of would come to pass. The meadow in the clearing, the crescent moon hanging in the day-lit sky, the towering trees, the tall grass brushing her ankles, the butterflies flitting about and the birds perched in the trees, the wolf's howls in the depths of the trees, the pull of her soul and the song that still played, delicately, strongly, and that would never cease. Through all the building, all the chaos and mayhem, all the manipulation and corruption and betrayal. Through all the deceit and the threat of violence hanging around the corner, the fear, grief, sorrow and loneliness.  Through it all, she had emerged, they had all emerged, together. And, despite everything they had been through, they would continue on. It was not the end of Hazel's story. No, she had only just started on her long journey and she knew, with all of her heart and all of her being, that it would be worth the wait that it had taken to get there. It would be worth all of the struggle, the sacrifice and the hardship. Because, at the end, there was an open door, and a mystifying landscape that was so vast and immense that it was impossible to perceive.  
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