Isaac looked up when he heard my footsteps."Couldn't sleep?"

"Marcella talks in her sleep and she's dreaming about dating. I got tired of hearing her say 'no, you hang up'."I sat down beside him on the steps."So, what are you doing out here this late?"

He shrugged."Just thinking."

"About what?"

He stayed silent, staring at his feet. It figured. For the first time in his life, he wasn't going to say anything. Usually, you couldn't shut him up.

"C'mon,"I coaxed."Quarter for your thoughts?" I pretended to look for pockets in my pj pants. Who cares what he's thinking? I tried to tell myself.

He touched my hand lightly to stop my search. "Just consider this one a freebie." A second later when he began talking, I found my fingers linked through his. Not what I had planned, but not totally unwelcome.

Truthfully, I knew I'd been acting like a little "female dog" ever since he had showed up. I've never reacted well to change, and he represented major upheavel in my life. He was an even better person that I had known, just for putting up with me for this long.

"So, are you ever going to tell me, or are we going to wait until my butt goes numb?" The silence was making me nervous. Why wasn't he talking?

"What were you thinking about?" I was cut off when he faced me suddenly and placed his very warm lips on mine.

Cheesy as it might sound, there is no other way to describe how I felt at that moment than to say that my heart seemed to stop. All thought flew out of my head, just like the day my middle-school crush had accepted that dare to streak in his underwear through my gym class.

And I'm pretty sure I saw stars.

Now, this is where I've always planned on ending this story, with my acceptance of Isaac's affection, something I had been fearing and fighting since New York. However, I'm sure you would like to know what happened after that, because this may be the end of a section of my life, but my story still lives on to this day.

There may even be a sequel someday, if everyone cares that much about what happened to us later on. In case there isn't though, here's the abridged version:

Isaac and I continued fighting until and beyond our marriage two years later. I'm still a stubborn pain in the neck, but he says that's what he loves so much about me. Our first son was born within a year of our marriage, and we've had two more since then. That, of course, isn't mentioning the baby I'm due to have any day now.

Brina and Taylor still date, neither having decided that they're ready for marriage.

Zac married Mandy, but divorced three years later. He and Marcella's wedding took place six months later. They had trouble conceiving, and made the decision to try fertillity drugs.

Marcella gave birth to quintuplets eight months later.

I saved the best for last, however. Two days ago my daughter that I gave up for adoption almost twenty years ago called me. She said she had one thing she needed to say to me.

Thank you.