Epilogue

Christmas eve in Hawaii, it was Sarah's first time in Hawaii. She hadn't been on a vacation before she met Richie so for her sons it was the first vacation they ever went on. They both loved surfing and Hawaii was a perfect place to surf, while Ava was sunbathing on the beach. Sarah and Richie did the same.

They had both been busy with work, Richie with his fashion line and already back to writing songs while Sarah had started a job at the nearest hospital as a receptionist for one of the wards. She liked her job a lot and had made a few friends out of her colleagues already.

Winter in Hawaii were pretty much the same as summers in Hawaii. So far they had spend their few days on the island on the beach, the weather was beautiful and so was the island itself.

But now, after a wonderful dinner with the family, and a nice Christmas movie afterwards, Sarah sat in bed, her knees pulled up where a photo album was resting through which she was leafing. Richie had asked her if she wanted to join him in the shower but Sarah decided to look through the photo album.

She had brought it along on vacation because she needed to look at the pictures to remember how their relationship started and their summer had been. Before they left she had a feeling she might need some cheering up, lately she needed Richie's support more frequently than she had wished.

The photo album had been a wedding present, as soon as they had opened it they knew what would have been inside. It was Jon's and Dorothea's present, a white photo album with two gold hearts on the cover.

She opened the book and read the text she had read so many times over the last few months,

Congratulations to you, Richie and Sarah, on finding one another.
Anyone can take a single look at the pair of you and see nothing but your love, care, respect, and admiration for each other shinning through not only in your eyes, but your smiles, and in the things you do.

The first time they had read it together, they had smiled at each other, it perfectly described them.

On the first page of the album was a photo of Sarah and Richie, a driver carrying bags behind them, walking down the hall. Sarah remembered the moment as the first time she had gone over to Europe to see Richie, so many things had changed from that moment on.

Looking through the album on the day after their wedding they had realized Jon had taken a lot more photos than they knew about but every single photo he had managed to capture a special moment between them or a step in their relationship.

A few pager further Sarah found another photo of herself and Richie, she was soaking wet, a towel was wrapped around her but it was noticeable Richie wasn't as wet. She remembered that only a few minutes they had told each other their love for one another.

Neither of them looked stunning in that particular photo but Sarah loved it because she knew the story behind it and it always helped to cheer her up again.

The photos at the castle in Scotland where Jon had joined them were some of Sarah's favorites. It had been a bright and sunny day which showed in the photographs too. She particularly loved the one Jon had taken while she and Richie were looking out over the walls and the kiss she had stolen from him a few minutes later.

Her absolute favorite photo was more to the back, on one of the last pages she found it, looking at longer than she had spent at looking at the others.

This photo represented the biggest change in her life. Since that moment on everything had changed, things were very different now.

It was a dark photo but it was at night, yet the figures of her and Richie were still clear, the rose Richie was handing her in the picture, still stood in the same box on her bed side table at home. It hand't moved since she had placed it there, before they left on vacation she had wondered if she should take it along but was scared it would get damaged and left the box safely in it's place.

Instead she had her engagement ring, which also looked like a rose, it wasn't a red one but a white gold one, just like her wedding ring which meant even more to her.

The last page of her photo album didn't bear a photo but another text,

This photo album holds your shared moments captured forever in time for you to see. The beginning has begun to fill, and now the two of you can fill the rest as you spend the rest of your lives together.

Instead of closing the book, Sarah returned to one of the pages that held a few pictures of them by the pool in Spain.

At that moment Richie walked back out of the bathroom.

Sarah looked up at him and smiled, she admired how comfortable he was with himself as he walked over to the bed completely naked. She definitely wasn't that comfortable with herself, she was glad Richie was still fine with that. She preferred a nightgown at night, even if it was hardly anything, the only times she slept naked was when they had more plans than just sleeping at night.

Richie lifted the covers on his side of the bed and got in, sliding closer to Sarah, holding his arms open. Sarah put her book down and moved into his arms, letting him embrace her as she rested her head on his shoulder, he kissed the top of her head.

"What's on your mind?" He asked gently but Sarah only shrugged against him and said, "nothing."
"Then why are you looking in that book?"
"I like looking at it."
"You usually look in it when you're a bit down or thinking about us." Richie explained, still gently.
"How do you know that?" Sarah looked up surprised.
"Because I'm your husband, I know you. So what's on your mind?" He asked asked again.

Sarah sighed.

"I was just thinking how perfect and easy things were a few months ago."
Confused Richie asked, "what do you mean?"
"The last few months have been a little rougher with everything going on and not working out as we had planned it." Sarah explained.

Richie hugged her tighter, he had been thinking the same, but hadn't told Sarah about it. The last few months had been a little harder, she was right about that but he thought they should hope and not give up.

"We just have to keep trying." He tried to encourage her even though he had a few of his own doubts.
"I just didn't think it would take this long."
"We have to keep trying." He repeated.
"I think it'll get even harder." Sarah said sadly, already feeling down about it all.
"Why would it get even harder?"

Sarah shook her head against him, she hadn't told him yet but now she had to.

"I got my period this morning." She confessed.
"Is that what's got you down all day? Sweetie, we just keep trying, we knew it wouldn't work at once." He said, not letting the disappointment he felt show, Sarah needed him now.

He held her for a while while he thought things over. It would take longer for them they successfully get pregnant, they certainly weren't in their 20s anymore but they had been told to just keep trying for a while and if that didn't work, they'd try something else. He couldn't deny he had hoped for it to work from the first time but so far they weren't that fortunate.

"Tomorrow we have a nice Christmas with the kids and we just keep trying for another kid. It'll work eventually, don't worry about it." He tried to encourage her again.

Sarah nodded and slid down the bed, Richie moved with her, not letting her go all night.



Christmas morning didn't immediately turn around Sarah's mood.

Usually the kids weren't up before 11 am when they didn't have school but now she could hear voices from the living room at only 9 am.

She gently shook Richie's shoulder to wake him up.

"Richie, honey, we got nosy kids."
Richie opened his eyes and stretched next to his wife. "What?"
"The kids are trying to figure out their Christmas presents."
"Spoiled brats." He chuckled, not meaning it at all.
"You wanted to spoil them."
"Because we can, so why not?"

They got out of bed, looking for clothes that would cover them up some more before going to the living room, which was on the same floor as their bedroom was.

All three teenagers immediately stood up and turned their backs to the tree and presents, with matching smiles on their faces.

"Very nice tree we have, isn't it?" Richie asked nonchalant.

He walked over to the tree with Sarah and sat down on the couch nears to it and picked up one of the presents and read the name tag.

"To Sexy Girl, from Sexy Stud." He looked up at Sarah. "That must be to you from me!" He said excited.
Sarah laughed and took the present.



An hour later all the presents had been opened and Sarah was regarding her family around her. Richie was helping Caleb with a new guitar while Noah was showing his new phone to Ava. She had a perfectly happy family around her, why did she still feel like something was missing?

Epilogue later

Don't panic just yet, part 3 of this story will start in February. It's just because it'll have a big time jump that I want to start a new story, and because I have to work in January and might not have time.

In February I'm starting university so I should have more time, no not because I won't study but because I can't take all the classes.

Still need a title for the next one, so suggestions are welcome.

Chapter fifty

Saturday morning Richie started feeling nerves too, nervous as he was, he was sure of what he was doing, he was making the right decision, no reason to be nervous but the nerves didn't go away.

He managed to make Sarah eat a little bit of breakfast too, even though it was only a slice of toast, he couldn't blame her, he was nervous too.

Their mothers arrived around 11 to help Sarah get ready, Richie couldn't believe they were there this early, the wedding itself was at seven in the evening, still eight hours from now, how would she needs eight hours to get dressed?

He kicked out of his room a little while later and got told to get ready in another bathroom, his mom told him he couldn't see Sarah in her dress until tonight.

Richie felt a little disappointed, he had had to wait all week and wanted to see her in her dress now. What did her dress look like? Would she go in traditional white or in another colour? How would she wear her hair, up or down? Would Ava's dress match hers? What would Ava look like then?

Trying to forget her curiosity he went downstairs to find three teenagers perfectly relaxed in front of the tv. Unbelievable, how could they be this relaxed on a day like this? He went to sit down, he surely didn't need eight hours to get dressed but whenever he tried to clear his mind it was just pointless.



Upstairs Sarah was taking her time showering, making sure her hair would look perfect for tonight. She tried the old trick of cold water to make her hair lighter blond but wasn't sure if it was really going to work, certainly she wasn't going to try and wash it with lemon juice.

Abbey and Joan waited in Sarah and Richie their bedroom while Sarah showered, they got Sarah's wedding dress out of the clothing bag and laid it out on the bed.

It looked beautiful on it's own, indisputably it would look even more beautiful on Sarah.

Sarah returned from the bathroom, wearing a robe a few minutes later.

"I have to get dressed now?" Sarah asked a little confused, she looked around for an alarm clock on one of the night stands next to the bed.
"You do, so you can change things if you're not sure about it." Joan insisted.
"It's not even noon yet." Sarah said.
Then Abbey pitched in too. "That's only six hours to get ready and we have to get ready too."
"That's ages." Sarah complained.
Abbey looked up at her. "Shush."

That undoubtedly made Sarah feel like a ten year old girl but she went along with it anyway.

Back in the bathroom her mother made her sit down on the stool and dried her long hair, brushing it at the same moment.

"Now how do you want your hair later? We'll do that once you got your dress on."
Sarah tried to answer but her mom went on.
"We should put it up, at least a little bit."
Sarah smiled and nodded, if she really didn't like it, she'd say so.

In the mean time Ava had finally come upstairs to join them.

Sarah came back in the room with her hair dried, still wearing the robe.

"Are you getting ready too?" She asked Ava when she noticed Ava getting her own dress ready.
"Yeah, I need to shower and I want to help you. Can I help you too?"
"Of course you can, isn't that part of your role and you helped with everything else too." Sarah agreed with her.
Ava nodded. "Can I use your bathroom?"
"Yeah go ahead." Sarah waved a hand toward the bathroom, letting Ava use it to get ready too.



Two hours later Sarah was finally allowed to get her dress on, her mother insisted on helping her pick out the right set of underwear. Which Sarah thought was funny, cause she only have one pair anyway, her mother wasn't too pleased.

Sarah was looking into the ceiling high mirror, when Ava thought of something.

"Do you have something new, old, blue and borrowed?" She asked in a panic.
"No, why?"
"You need it, that's just part of a wedding." Ava insisted.
"Goodness," Joan said, "how could we have forgotten that?"
"I got something blue for you." Ava said, quickly getting out of her dress and back into her jeans and t-shirt and ran out of the room.
"I already got you your something old." Abbey said, retrieving one of the few bags that stood on the bed, getting a blue box out of it.
"What's that?" Sarah asked.
Abbey carefully opened it and showed Sarah the necklace inside it.
"Mom." Sarah gasped as she noticed the silver necklace. "Dad gave you that on your wedding day."
"I know but I want you to have it now." Abbey insisted.
"Are you sure?"
Abbey nodded. "It's for you, that way your dad is here a little too."
Sarah hadn't even thought of that, a little touched, she nodded.

Meanwhile, Ava returned with something in her hand, just as Sarah was putting on her mother's necklace.

"You can borrow my bracelet. It's blue and it would be borrowed." Ava held out the simple beaded, blue bracelet.
"It's beautiful." Sarah said, accepting the bracelet.
"I got it from grampa on my birthday before he died." Ava added a little uncertain.
"I promise to give it back to you first thing tomorrow morning." Sarah promised, seeing it was a little hard for Ava to do.
"Now just something new." Ava said.
Joan got out another little box. "I got that one covered."
Sarah turned around to see what Joan would have for her.
"I got you earrings, I just thought you might not have those yet." Joan explained, opening the box to show Sarah.
"Oh." Sarah said a little surprised. "I don't have my ears pierced."
Joan smiled. "I wasn't sure of that so I just got clip-ons."
Sarah smiled relieved.

Making sure she had the things she needed, Sarah took her dress back off so it would stay clean while doing make-up and hair.



Downstairs Richie had finally gotten in action around 3 pm, he still wasn't allowed into his room and went to a bathroom down the hall to shower and get dressed.

He had only just gotten in the shower when he heard a knocking on the door.

"Richie?"

He recognized his mother's voice and turned off the water.

"What?" He asked confused.
"Sarah's not feeling too well, she wants to see you."
He got out of the shower immediately, looking for a towel and his jeans to put on. "I thought I wasn't allowed to see her?"
"She wants you, just come."
"Coming." He finished putting his jeans back on and opened the door.

Worriedly he followed his mother to his bedroom, to the bathroom door, Ava, Abbey and Joan all standing behind him, tentatively.

Richie carefully knocked on the bathroom door. "Honey? You in there?"
"Richie?" He heard her voice from inside the room, low and worried.
"I'm here honey." He opened the door and went inside.

Sarah was still dressed in her robe, sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet. Now she was glad she had changed out of her wedding dress for hair and make-up.

"Are you alright?" He bend down next to her, his hand on her back, rubbing up and down.
"I think so. Think it were just my nerves making me sick."
"You're alright now?"
"Yeah, it's okay." Sarah nodded slightly.

Richie sat down on the floor next to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a few minutes, making sure she was feeling better before he let her get up again.

Carefully Sarah got back to her feet, a little unsteady she walked over to the stool to sit down.

Richie gave her a glass of water and mouthwash to get rid of the nasty taste.

A few minutes later he asked her again, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"We should get back to getting ready." He suggested gently.
Sarah chuckled. "Don't think our moms are happy I delayed them now."
Richie chuckled too. "Good luck."

He helped her to stand up and walked back to their bedroom with her. He wanted to kiss her before he left but his mom interrupted them.

"You're not even supposed to see her before the wedding, no kissing. You better have slept in separate rooms last night too!"
"Sure mom." Richie smiled, knowing she knew they hadn't. He turned around to give Sarah a smile instead and went back to the bathroom down the hall.



Finally Sarah stood in front of the mirror high ceiling again, regarding herself.

Her wedding dress was a cream color, with a strap over her right shoulder. The top was tight fitting while the skirt got looser the more it went down to the bottom. Her mother's silver necklace looked perfect and matched with the earrings she had gotten from Joan. Ava's blue bracelet stood out a little but Sarah thought that made it even more perfect. Her hair was up again, like a few weeks ago when Richie had told her how beautiful he thought she looked with it.



Sarah and Richie were driven to the hotel in separate cars. Richie and the boys left earlier to meet Jon, of course Richie's best man at the hotel too.

Richie's nerves were rising on the way there, he was glad to see Jon waiting for him. Without any words, they hugged and went on with their duties.

Noah and Caleb took their places as ushers, they had gotten the seating plan and memorized it as best as they could. There weren't many people so it couldn't possibly be that hard. Their mother didn't have any guest, she didn't know anybody and couldn't invite friends, she simply didn't have any. That way they evenly divided Richie's friends over the two rows.

The boys took their jobs very seriously and politely showed everyone to their seat. Caleb was extra polite when he noticed Stephanie and Gabby.

Finally when they had lead everyone to their chairs, dividing them evenly between the two rows, Jon and Tico with their family on Richie's side and David's family, along with Sarah's family on Sarah's side.

It didn't take them very long to get everyone seated and they returned back into the hotel, finding their mother.



Richie was standing in the back, screens were set up to hide the hotel from view, on the other side was a canopy, the white drapes were shut, in which he knew Sarah was finishing the last touches.

Ava emerged from the canopy and walked over to Richie, Jon walking over from the hotel too.

With a smile Ava stood in front of her dad, looking up at him, then reached in to hug him.

"I love you dad."
"I love you too." He hugged her back tightly.
"Sarah loves you too."

Before Richie could answer, Ava had let go and taken Jon's arm to walk down the aisle.

Richie took a deep breath and watched her go.

The closer they got the more he knew he had to get going too. Once Ava and Jon let go and both stood on their side, Richie stepped up to the aisle.

In just a little while Sarah would be his wife.

He took his first step down the aisle, suddenly all his nerves disappeared. Like during rehearsal the night before he tried not to hurry down the aisle and made sure he wasn't walking too slow either.

When he reached the alter he took his place next to Jon, who was his best man.

The guests sat down again and they waited.

Strangely, Richie felt completely relaxed, his nerves had gone, this was the right thing to do.

A few minutes later music started playing, the guests stood up, and Richie, Jon and Ava all turned towards the canopy that opened slightly.

Richie's eyes grew wide and a smile appeared on his face when he watched Sarah walk out. Her sons each took an arm and walked her down the aisle. She looked so beautiful and he couldn't believe she was his.

He watched Sarah walk over to him, not once taking his eyes off her, when she stood next to him, he smiled softly, a smile which Sarah returned, and took her hand, turning towards the priest.

~The End~

Chapter forty-nine

August ended fairly quickly and September was right around the corner.
Sarah's sons had an easy time settling it at school and Sarah had the whole day with Richie to plan the last few things for the wedding.

After approval of them both Sarah made a trip to the post office to mail the invitations. It would only be a small wedding, their mothers, children and Richie's friends.

They planned to meet at Richie's house in the afternoon before going to the beach for the ceremony itself and returning to the house for a late dinner and celebrations.

Sarah actually looked forward to seeing everyone again.

The week before the wedding, Richie dropped her and Ava off at a store that sold wedding dresses and asked Ava to make sure Sarah didn't look at any prices of any of the beautiful dresses in the store.

Ava and Sarah spend almost the entire day in the store while Richie got a new tuxedo, he couldn't wear something he already owned, he needed something new for his wedding.

It was a complete girl's day, which Sarah remembered doing with her mother when she was young. Ava had an incredibly opinion about which dresses Sarah would like and in almost all of them she looked perfectly beautiful. With every dress Sarah tried on, Ava found one that was almost the same and would be perfect for her, being the maid of honour. She was still honoured with the role and kept asking Sarah if she was really sure. Sarah had to keep confirming, she had become to love Ava like she would her own daughter. She was sure Richie had done the same for her boys, it seemed that way at least.

 Only one more week and they would be married. It promised to be an exciting and nervous week. Sarah looked forward to it even though she was nervous but it also felt right to do. Being with Richie she always felt more comfortable and daring. As long as she had him, she could do anything in life and marriage was the next step to that, making it definite that she would never be without him again. She knew Richie had noticed the changes in her too because he didn't ask if everything was okay whenever they did anything. Not only in their regular life but their sexual life too.

Richie went to buy the rings alone, he wanted something simple, yet elegant enough.



Sunday was a calm day which Sarah spent at home with her three children, Richie was performing at a telethon, which they were now watching on tv, waiting until Richie would finally perform. She always wanted a daughter and with Ava she was pretty close to achieving that. Although Ava was a great girl, that she loved, she still wanted her own daughter, the same way Richie loved her sons but still wanted his own son. That would mean they had to get two children, a boy and a girl.



The rest of the week they arranged the last minute things.



Catering testing was on Tuesday, to which they brought Noah, Caleb and Ava along to test and decide what they'd eat. Since they were a fairly small group for a wedding, they had enough time to prepare it before Saturday evening.

They had received everyone's RSVP's and as they expected, everyone would be able to come, most arriving late Friday or early Saturday morning.



Wednesday after school Sarah was picking up hers and Ava's dress, as usual Richie picked the kids up from school and went on to the bridal shop where only Sarah and Ava went inside, did their final fitting and packed up the dresses in long bags so nobody could see them just yet.

In the car Ava did a little bragging of how beautiful her dress was to her soon to be stepbrothers. Telling them her new dress was much nicer than just a tuxedo.


Thursday evening Sarah was full of nerves, only two days away. That afternoon Richie and her had gone to the hotel that offered their private beach that they had paid for for the entire day and evening. With the staff they had gone over how they wanted the seating and the decorations. The hotel was used to beach weddings and had everything Sarah and Richie wanted.



Friday morning Sarah woke up even more nervous but so happy to have Richie next to her. He was still asleep but his sleeping, relaxed figure made her relax a little too. He was always capable of making her relax, he also made her more confident.

She didn't need confidence to do this, for this she was lead through love, it was clear what she wanted and for once she actually knew what she wanted. All she wanted was Richie's love and support for the rest of their lives, it was all she needed.

Richie woke to an empty bed but could already smell the distant fragrance of fresh coffee coming from the kitchen. He loved having a woman in his life again, someone to share with, someone he could support and love forever. Someone that could love him and his life too. Sarah hadn't had a very good view of his life yet but he was sure they could overcome anything.

After driving everyone to school, Richie insisted him and Sarah took a calm day, the last weeks had been stressful enough with arranging everything and today he wanted to relax with his very soon to be wife.

Around noon he finally thought of the perfect way to make Sarah forget her nerves and asked her to come with him, without telling her were they were going.

Sarah found out only half an hour later when Richie parked in front of a spa.

"We're getting massages again?" Sarah asked excited when the car stood still.
"It relaxed you last time and if you want you can get all the fancy stuff."
"Oooh they should have this facial stuff that should make your skin all pretty and glowing." Her excitement only grew.
"Then you get that." Richie agreed and got out of the car.



Sarah got exactly what she wanted and got the complete luxury package, getting the full treatment, which took much longer than just Richie's massage but he didn't mind waiting for her. When Sarah finally finished she looked so relax and beautiful, he thought it was worth all the waiting and money.

Their evening they spend together in bed watching tv, cuddling close, an evening to themselves while Sarah tried to ignore the still growing nerves inside her.

Chapter forty-eight

Sarah loved her new laptop, instead of using it for anything professional for now, she looked up everything to arrange a wedding.

They had returned from their vacation on Tuesday night, now two days later, she was still talking to Richie about a possible wedding later this month or in September.

The day after they had arrived back home, Richie had an interview on tv about his clothing line and tomorrow he was off with Ava to the U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton, Sarah decided she'd spend tomorrow at home then.

Richie was playing a telethon on tv the first weekend of September, so those days were out of question, which only left them two weeks before school would start and Sarah still had to move in too.

By now Sarah spent more time at Richie's house than at her mother's. Ava had gone back home too.

Both of them had told their children together about their plans, according to the kids there wasn't much for them to decide and they wished their parents good luck.

"Planning the wedding again?" Richie asked as he sat down next to Sarah.
"There wasn't anything on tv and you were busy and it just popped into my mind." Sarah answered.
"You haven't even picked a date out." Richie pointed out.
"I know, what it is it today? 18th August?"
Richie nodded.
"When does school start?" She asked.
"29th so we need to get the boys listed at school."
Sarah nodded, "we can do that Monday because you're not home tomorrow either, and then we need to move over here."
Richie nodded again. "Busy."
"The beginning of September? The day after you play that telethon?"
"That's labor day." Richie pointed out again.
"Last day to do something nice during summer." Sarah suggested.
"What about that weekend, we have to make sure everyone can come over... 10 September?" Richie asked back.
"September 10th, 2011." Sarah said the date.
"9/10/11." Richie chuckled.
"We can do that so you can have fun with the date." Sarah suggested.
"It's a fun date, we need invitations too."
"Oh I can find a website for that." Sarah excitedly returned to Google to search for wedding invitation designs or people that could design them.

She loved her new laptop.




During the weekend Sarah packed her stuff into boxes, it was strange to leave her mothers house now but she felt confident into moving in with Richie. With him she'd be fine now.

Her sons were doing the same thing in their rooms, while at Richie's house, Richie was emptying guests rooms so the boys could decorate it however they wanted it.

While packing Sarah also threw out clothes and stuff she didn't need anymore, she didn't need it anymore.



On Sunday evening all the boxed stood in the living room, ready to be brought to Richie's house.

Sarah tried hard to not start crying when Richie arrived and the boys helped him to put all the boxes in his big car. This was such a huge step and she wouldn't have her mother to be with her anymore, but she had her soon to be husband to support her along the way.

When she finally hugged her mum and said goodbye, her tears started flowing.

Her tears weren't completely sad. They were sad because she was leaving her mother and her home of the past ten years behind but happy and hopeful for the future and what would come next.

She finally let go of her mother and turned to hug Richie in stead.


"Ready to go?" Richie asked after a few minutes.
Sarah nodded.

It wasn't just ready to go, ready to go on too.

Richie gave her a hand to get in the car and got in on the other side, he backed the car out of the driveway and drove to his now, different too, home.




By Tuesday everything fell into place.

The boys were ready to start at their new school, a little excited and nervous since it was less than a week away now.

Sarah loved living at Richie's house, it was a lot easier, she didn't need to bring things over anymore.

Richie had shown her to his walk in closet, amazed Sarah had looked around, she hadn't nearly seen everything every time she had been there before. Now half of that closet, which was empty was for her. To her relief, Richie helped putting all her clothes away, packing it had been enough work on her own and she was glad she could share this, like many things to come.

Tuesday night they had their first almost-family dinner, Ava was at her mother's for the week but would return on Sunday for the start of school.



Wednesday morning Sarah was excited and impatiently waiting for the mail to arrive. She knew it would be delivered in a box that she needed to sign for so the mailman had to bring it all the way to the door and she couldn't wait for him to ring the bell.

She needed to see now so she could still change some things if needed.

Again, she tried to focus on other things she needed to finish too. So far she had the flowers arranged and Richie had made sure they could get married on the beach. They needed the invitations and catering. Then most importantly Sarah needed her wedding dress and a maid of honour one for Ava.

Ava was more than excited to be maid of honour and was very happy Sarah had given her the role, it meant a lot to her. Most important, the only one so she could get all the attention on her own until Sarah would walk down the aisle..

For the rest they needed tuxedos, Sarah's son would be ushers, glad they didn't have to wear jackets and could just wear their shirts and a tie like that.

Sarah and Richie needed to go shopping this week.

Everything else was almost arranged, a few more little things other than sending off the invitations and they would be ready to have the beach wedding Sarah wanted to have.

Finally the door bell rang and Sarah jumped up from her chair in the kitchen to go open the door.

She signed the form and accepted the little box, thanked the man and closed the door.

"Richie! The wedding invitations are here. Come see!"

Chapter forty-seven

The next morning Richie woke up, remembering Sarah's presents in the living room. He got out of bed, relieved yet again that Sarah didn't wake up. This was definitely something he liked.

In the kitchen he started two cups of coffee and got the presents from the living room to bring back to the bed, then returned to the kitchen to retrieve the cups of coffee.

He sat down on the bed and started waking Sarah up.

When she finally opened her eyes and sat up a bit, Richie held out the cup. "Got you coffee."
"Thanks." Sarah took the cup and tentavily sipped.
"We forgot your presents last night." Richie held out one of the wrapped gifts.
"You got me presents?" Sarah asked exciting, putting the coffee down on the night stand.
"Of course I did. Open this one first." He held out the flattest one of them all.
Sarah carefully opened the gift wrap, so she wouldn't rip it too much.
"A dvd?" She asked when almost all the paper was gone.
"I hope you like it."
Sarah removed the last pieces of paper and looked at the cover. "Pay It Forward." She read the title and remembered. "That's the movie I watched!"
"I thought it was. Do you like it?"
"I do, thanks so much." She opened it and turned it over, getting a look at everything. "Oh my God, that's Jon."
Richie chuckled. "I know."
"And I said I thought he was cute. I didn't think you'd actually know him."
Richie chuckled again. "As long as you still marry me."
"I find you attractive, not Jon."

Richie smiled and kissed her, making sure of it.

Sarah opened the next present, ticker than the first but smaller. She unwrapped it as carefully as thr first one and found Pay It Forward, the book too.

Another present gave her an iPhone, according to Richie she needed a phone, just so it would be easier.
The last and biggest present was a brand new laptop. Another thing Richie thought would make things easier. While thinking Sarah was going back to school, he thought a laptop would be helpful with research and homework.

"Richie, this is so much, I didn't really get you anything last month." Sarah said regretful.
"You did, remember we had phone sex?"
"How is that a present?" Sarah asked confused.
"Because I see it as another step forward and you came over for my birthday and said yes. What more could I have wanted?"
"That's going to make it very hard to get you a Christmas present."

The rest of the day they spend on the beach again. The lake was hot.

Richie had his fun again with covering Sarah in sun screen.

When he finished, he helped Sarah up from the sunbed and walked over to the ocean. He loved seeing her in her bikini but even more in a wet bikini.

Sarah followed him, the water quickly rose as they walked deeper until they were all the way in the water.
Richie held her close to him, his hands cupping her bottom.

"Richie." Sarah said a little hesitant.
"No one can see us this far." He held her a little closer.
"We can't do anything here." She said carefully.
"I can just hold you, can't I?"
"Yeah you can." She hoped it would stay like that, this was a public place, even if nobody could see then.



The next day Richie arranged something for them to enjoy as a family but kept it a surprise until they arrived.

A big balloon with a basket stood in a field, a couple of people around it, walking around and getting things in order.

"We're going on a balloon ride?" Ava asked amazed and excited when they saw the balloon.
"We are." Richie confirmed.
"That's so cool man." Caleb pitched it.
"I know man!" He laughed.

They all got into the basket and before they knew it they were high above in the sky, the whole landscape below them was shrinking the higher they went.

Everyone except Sarah stood by the edges, looking down to the ground, pointing out places.

Finally Richie noticed Sarah standing still in the middle, not making any move to get close to the sides.

"What's wrong?" He asked, walking the short distance to stand in front of her.
Sarah looked up into his eyes. "We're very high."
"Are you scared of heights?" Richie asked, inwardly starting to panic if she was, they couldn't just land right now.
"I don't know, I haven't been this high before. I... I just don't want to look." She said.
"Okay, I'll stay here with you." He said and held her stare as she was still looking into his eyes.



The ride wasn't very long and an hour later they stood back on the ground.

"That was nice." Sarah said as they walked away.
Richie chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you're scared of heights."
"I didn't know either," said Sarah, "I've never done anything like that. On the plane I don't look out because I don't want to see it either."
"But it was nice."

All the kids agreed to that.



They spent their last few days at Lake Tahoe in the same way, mostly they spent time on the beach. The kids went off to try more water sports.

Closer to the end of their vacation, Richie rented a small boat and took everyone on the water, he had rented fishing equipment too.

A quick boat ride farther off shore and Richie got out the fishing equipment, followed by teenage sighs and "that's no fun"

Eventually he got everyone a rope and today was their lucky day. Almost as soon as Noah had his rope down the water, he already caught a fish. He held it up and looked around confused.

"You have to unhook him." Richie pointed out.
"I'm not touching that." Noah said disgustedly looking at the fish that was trying to get away but couldn't.
"Come here." Richie motioned for him to move his line over so he could grab the fish.

Noah did as asked and Richie unhooked the fish, then threw it back in the water.

"We're not keeping them?"
"You can't eat one of those so just put them back."

When Ava caught a fish it went the same way, another disgusted look and not wanting to touch the fish. At least Caleb tried to unhook it but made it worse until Richie helped him.

Sarah decided to skip on fishing, noticing Richie had enough work unhooking fish, she loved seeing him like this, like a father taking his kids out fishing except these were her kids. She loved how Richie treated them, the boys didn't remember much about their dad and had grown up without a father, maybe this would be beneficial for them too.



On their last day Richie took Sarah to a spa, thinking she hadn't been to one before, he was sure she'd love it.

To start they got massages, the spa offered couple's massages so Richie and Sarah could share a room.

A little uneasy about being naked Sarah got on the massage table and faced Richie.

A few minutes into their massage, Richie looked over at Sarah, her eyes closed and completely relaxed, he was right, he knew she'd love it.



As with all good thing, their vacation came to an end too. They got home late and Richie showed Caleb and Noah to the guest rooms before finding Sarah to take to his own bedroom, very different plans on his mind than sleeping.

Chapter forty-six

"So we should get married this summer?" Sarah asked.
"If that's what you want." Richie repeated.
"I think so." Sarah said more certain of herself. "Do you think we can arrange it that fast?"
"I'm sure we can. You just tell me how you want it and if you want I can get someone to arrange it all."

Sarah nodded, that sounded very good according to her. They had to talk to the kids the next day, they should at least have a little bit of an opinion on this too.

Richie's dinner was perfect and they both loved it, even if it was a little simple, the flavour and taste made it perfect.

When they finished he brought the plates back to the kitchen and returned with their desserts. These ones he hadn't prepared himself but gotten out of the fridge.

After dessert Richie walked around the table and gave Sarah a hand to get up from her chair, he looked her over once again.

"I really like your hair like this." He told her.

Hesitant Sarah raised her hand back up to her temple but Richie caught it just in time.

"Beautiful." He insisted.

He held her hand and walked her outside to the back deck where the hot tub stood.

"Everyone can see us." Sarah said while Richie started undressing, noticing he didn't have any swimwear on.
"It's dark, we'll turn off the lights if you want, nobody can see us." He tried to convince her of it.
Sarah slightly nodded and followed his example.

The hot tub's warm water felt nice even though it was warm outside.

Richie asked his next question hesitantly a few minutes later.

"Since we talked about marriage tonight, is there another thing we can talk about?"
"Sure, what is it?" Sarah looked up at him next to her.
"Do you still want kids?" He said even more hesitant.
"Didn't I tell you a month ago? I do, I thought you wanted more kids too?" She now sounded just as unsure as he did.
"I would love to. I'm not sure how it'll work though."

Sarah turned a bit and lowered her hand into the water, wrapping it around his dick.

"I think it goes like this."
Richie chuckled but didn't make her stop. "I meant, with our age and stuff."
"We just try and see what happens."
"I guess that would be a start. Can we try and see what happens now? He asked a little excited with Sarah's hand still around him, making him harder with every stroke.
"I'm still on the pill."
"We can still practice." He suggested.

Sarah smiled and reached in to kiss him, then moved to straddle his lap, her strokes had made Richie hard and ready for some pleasure. She held him still and slid down on top of him, sighing when she could feel him entirely inside her.

Richie wrapped one arm around her back and held the other on her hip, guiding her movements on top of him. His lips caught hers in a kiss he didn't want to let go of while Sarah started moving up and down on him.

Only a few minutes later Sarah threw her head back and Richie reached up to her breasts, cupping them both and he felt Sarah's orgasm around him, making him find his own already too.

Sarah slumped forward and rested her head on Richie's shoulder.

"We'll do it nicer," Richie promised, "when we go it for real."
"Why? I like this too."
"Then we can do it a lot more times, with more orgasms." He said in a low voice and kissed her neck, gently nipping her skin.
Sarah squirmed and giggled against him.

"When are the kids getting back?" She asked when she sat next to Richie again.
"Oh fuck, we better move before they do." Richie quickly got up out of the tub and held a hand out to help Sarah out of it.

Together they dashed off to the bedroom, falling into a heap of sheets when they got there.

Richie pulled her close next to him and started kissing her again, paying attention to her temple, of which she was so uncertain of showing, he loved every little part of her and that included the scar.

His lips covered almost every inch of skin he could kiss while he travelled down to her chest, wrapping his lips around a nipple and gently sucking it.

Sarah gasped in delight as he did and her fingers disappeared into his hair, holding him there.

Richie only moved to get to her other breast, his hand cupping the one he had just left, making sure it would still get attention, he played with her nipple so it stood erect the entire time.

Soon enough he could feel something else starting to stand erect too, lying so close to Sarah he was sure she could feel it too.

Richie was right and Sarah's hand snaked down between them, wrapping around his semi-hard cock, playing him until he stood up straight.

He loved doing this with Sarah, it seemed to be even more like love than it had been before, that's how special Sarah was.

"I love you." He said as he rolled her to her back and moved above her, getting in place.
"I love you too."

With that he carefully moved inside her until he was fully within her walls, already she tensed around him. He thrusted slowly, feeling her tremble with every stroke he made.

Sarah tried to keep it off, with him an orgasm felt even better, she wanted to go at the same time as Richie did. She held his shoulders and pulled him down on top of her, kissing him passionately, not wanting it to end again.

Richie's thrusts sped up as he kissed Sarah, he tried to keep it slow but with Sarah trembling underneath him he couldn't hold back either, her kiss made it even harder.

A few more thrusts and they both found their released.

When they caught their breath, Richie rolled off of her and pulled her close next to him.

"We'll do it like that." He said.
"I like that too."
"I hope it works." Honestly, he didn't know if they would be able to, their age definitely wasn't an advantage in conceiving.
"You have to be positive, remember?" She referred back to rehab where they had to be positive of getting a better life too.
Richie nodded.

They stayed quiet a while, hearing the kids get back on the boat, a rummage of noise until it turned back quiet, assuming they had all gone to bed.

Richie thought Sarah had gone to sleep too, she hadn't said anything in a while. He moved a little to get more comfortable next to her.

"I can't go to school then."
"What?" Richie asked confused.
"If we're gonna have a baby, I can't go to school for four years."
"Why not?"
"You'll be making music and touring, if I go to school, neither of us will be there."
"I guess that's true." Richie said, guessing she didn't want a nanny either. "It's up to you, you're the one that would get pregnant, you want to go school. It's your decision."
"To be perfectly honest, I'd rather have a baby. I told you I want a girl, so you better work on that." She teased him.
Richie chuckled. "I'll do my best."
"I can do something else in a hospital, right? Work at a reception desk or something?" Sarah thought.
"You definitely could, still helping people that way." He agreed with her.

Sarah settled against him again and closed her eyes, for now she needed sleep, tomorrow would be another lazy day at the lake's beach.