Chapter 24
The years passed.
Ellie grew.
She was smart and funny and kind.
Just like her older siblings.
She loved her brothers and sisters more than anything.
And they loved her right back.
Noah moved back to Austin when Ellie was five.
He'd gotten a job with a tech company there.
He wanted to be close to family.
Close to his little sister.
Ethan retired from professional soccer when he was thirty.
He'd had a good career.
He'd won championships.
He'd traveled the world.
But he was ready to come home.
He moved to Austin too, and started coaching youth soccer.
Sophia moved back from Paris when Ellie was seven.
She'd become a successful artist.
Her paintings were in galleries all over the world.
But she wanted to raise her own family close to hers.
She got married a year later.
Olivia was the last to come home.
She'd become a successful author.
Her novels were bestsellers.
But she missed her family.
She missed Austin.
She moved back when Ellie was ten.
And suddenly, all five of my children were home.
The house was full again.
Full of noise.
Full of laughter.
Full of love.
Marcus and I were in our sixties now.
We'd slowed down a little.
We'd stepped back from the day-to-day operations of the foundation, though we still served on the board.
We spent our days gardening.
Reading.
Spending time with our children and our growing number of grandchildren.
Sophia had two children.
Noah had three.
Ethan had four.
Olivia had one.
And Ellie was our baby, still at home, still the center of everyone's world.
We were surrounded by family.
By love.
By everything we'd worked so hard to build.
Daniel and his wife lived in Austin now too.
They'd moved back a few years earlier.
We saw them often.
At family gatherings.
At holidays.
At foundation events.
He was a good grandfather to the older children's kids.
He was kind to Ellie.
He'd become the man he should have been all along.
It had taken him a long time.
A lot of mistakes.
A lot of regret.
But he'd finally gotten there.
One evening, we were all gathered at the house for Sunday dinner.
All five children.
All the grandchildren.
Marcus and me.
Daniel and his wife.
Aunt Margaret, who was now in her nineties but still going strong.
The house was chaotic.
Children running everywhere.
Adults talking and laughing.
The smell of food filling the air.
Marcus squeezed my hand.
"Look at this," he said, his eyes full of wonder. "Look at what we built."
I looked around the room.
At my children, all grown up, all happy.
At my grandchildren, running and playing.
At Daniel, laughing at something Ethan had said.
At Aunt Margaret, holding a baby in her lap.
At Marcus, the love of my life, sitting beside me.
And at Ellie, now twelve years old, sitting at the head of the kids' table, telling her nieces and nephews a story.
This was our family.
Complicated.
Messy.
Not perfect.
May you like
But ours.
And it was perfect to me.
