At twenty three Liberty Crane had it all. She had the perfect marriage, or some would say, but what was really cookie-cutter ‘perfect‘ anyway? She had laughter, she had tears and she had pain, but it was all worth it at the end of the day. She wouldn’t have traded anything and she never wished she were someone else. She was completely content where she was; and she was happy to be herself and be with the only man she’d ever truly been madly in love with. And Dom, well Dom continued to be Dom; adoringly so, that is.

Sure, she’d married young and, yes, some marriages don’t last if you marry too early, but things with Dom were different, and that was how she liked it. You never knew what he was going to do, what he was going to say. He always surprised her. What surprised her most, at first, was that he loved her, and that she loved him back.

Raya and Orlando had the kind of relationship that singles aspired to have and that unhappy couples wanted to know the secret of. The truth of the matter was that there wasn’t a secret, they were just madly and love and happy together. After Priya, they had William Turner Andrew James Bloom whose Godfather ended up being Elijah, though he was named for Billy. When Priya turned four, they got a surprise in the form of Christian Dominic Elijah Viggo Sean Richard Bloom, whom Orlando named all on his own, incorporating all of the men he knew, admired and loved. Will beat his younger brother up often, but that was to be expected considering Billy and Elijah had taught him karate. Or, rather, their form of karate which mostly just involved a lot of screeching and kicking. The fourth Bloom into the world was named Rose Elizabeth Samantha Liberty Liv Bloom. Anaka, though not getting the honor of having a namesake, became Godmother and was a good one, buying little Rose many fashionable outfits. There was a bit of a surprise (mostly for Billy) when Priya was six; twins popped into the Bloom household.

Of course, this resulted in Billy shrieking, “They’re BLOOMING! God, I’m so witty.” and Elijah requesting that all the children wear name tags as the new twins had several names between them. Tessa Anne Madelaine Karine Charity and her twin John Ryan Andrew Zachary Preston welcomed a younger sister (by this time Raya was completely put-out with Dominic calling her a baby factory despite the fact that he only spoke the truth) by the name of Bridget Kathryn Olivia Salome. Obviously, Elijah would invest in name tags immediately.

Though the Bloom’s had names that were tongue twisters, they led a good, healthy and happy life.

Right next door to the Monaghans in England who welcomed their first child, Scarlett Raya Alexia-Jane (as per Elijah’s request that, “For God’s sake at least ONE of their kids have a normal name.”) in Priya’s third year of life. And though Liberty wasn’t exactly the baby making machine that Raya was and Dom wasn’t a powerhouse like Orlando referred to himself, they did have one more child who they aptly named Shane Orlando Monaghan; as the rest of the Fellowship already had namesakes, more or less, they figured Orlando might feel left out. After Scarlette and Shane had started school, Liberty started working from home (as did Raya) and welcomed several more children into the world because Dom wouldn’t let Orlando get the upper hand where libidos were concerned. Gemma Isabelle, Colin George and Kiera Jade rounded out the Monaghan house quite nicely.

Dom was indigant that Liberty refused to pop out any more children. “We have half as many children as they do, you realize this?” (This was after The Bloom’s last child, Rachel, was born.)

“Yes,” Liberty replied, as she gave Keira a bottle. “But I'm tired already.”

“I don’t know. Raya seems to be quite vibrant, with four children under the age of four.”

“But that's RAYA. I'm LIBERTY.”

Raya took this opportunity to pop her head over the fence (the Monaghans were in the garden) and ask “Care to join us for a spot of tea?”

Billy was a bachelor for longer than he cared to count, though he loved his life; Raya was constantly trying to set him up with girls, and eventually he settled down and had some little Boyds of his own, with none other than Raya’s older sister, Elizabeth. Their oldest child, a little Billy (not of the goat variety), was called Pippin. Or, rather, nicknamed Pippin as Billy was sure the poor thing would have terrible trouble once she started school. Her real name was Piper.

Elijah was a different case all together, he didn’t WANT to be attached and held down; his career was flourishing and though he sometimes felt lonely when he looked at his friends, he knew he’d find the person who would make him want to settle down one day.

Sean and Christine, with their daughter Alexandra, welcomed several more little Astins into their home which Orlando never let him live down; they seemed to be busier than even Raya and Orlando.

Viggo and Henry, the perfect father and son team, became Uncle Viggo and Uncle Henry to all of the aforementioned children, often taking them fishing or camping in the woods of New Zealand when their parents needed rest.

And though the Anakas of the world reared their ugly, yet fashionable heads, Dom and Liberty overcame it. And neither, once, was unfaithful.

Except that one time when Billy and Dom were severely drunk and they kissed, but Liberty didn’t count that.

Songs:

The Calling, “Anything” / Album: “Two”

& Epilogue - Westlife, “Written In The Stars” / Album: “Greatest Hits Volume 1”

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