I stepped out of the stale air of the mental hospital that housed Luciana Suarez and into the crisp and warming spring atmosphere that seemed to sparkle with a luster that the world didn't have before I found my happiness.

"Are you ready, babe?"

I smiled up at Lachlan, placing my hand into his outstretched palm, casting a final glance back at the white sterile building and mulled over my first conversation with Luciana where my birth mother had been coherent and aware of what was going on around her.

She had been clear minded and guilt ridden, but we pushed past it and started building the foundation of what I hoped to be a good start.  I'd come and visit next month, but today was the first day that I decided to visit her.

It was my birthday.

That wasn't lost on her, and through her tears she'd recounted the night she gave birth to me, noting how she'd gone without any epidural or painkillers and had pushed for hours and hours, and I had come out a hefty nine pounds.

We joked about how I had 'ruined' her body, and while it was a unique experience actually meeting my birth mother for the first time in that way, it was also healing and transcendent in ways I couldn't explain, not that I wanted to put it into words.

Lachlan's hand was in my lap the entire ride back to the academy, where we'd be packing up what little was left of my possessions in the dorm room I'd shared with Jenna along with the majority of our things in his cabin, considering we'd be moving into our shared apartment soon enough.

I'd already been accepted into NYU as well as Lachlan, and it was just a waiting game to see if I'd receive a callback after my piano composition audition for the Manhattan School of Music, so we had already committed on an apartment, all that was left was the moving part.

Out of the car and strolling on the Bayfield Academy grounds, our gazes drew us to the lustrous koi pond and suddenly we were sitting on the bench, Lachlan's hands in my hair and mouth on mine.

It was a sensually slow meeting of pleasure and finality, the fact that we could seek comfort in each other whenever we wanted a privilege that we treated as if it could be yanked away from us at any moment, at any time.

Hands twisting my dark brown locks around his fingertips, he angled my mouth so he could take the kiss deeper, his tongue licking the seam of my lips and I parted them wantonly, uncaring that we were full on making out on a bench in public.

Ragged breaths and sharp inhales, our bodies protested from our pulling apart but as he rested his forehead against mine and drew circles on the skin of my neck, I noticed movement in the pond off to our right.

"Lachlan, look," I said, motioning towards the fish.

"They haven't restocked the pond yet, have they?"

"No," he said, eyes wide as he followed my gaze, remembering the tiny creatures that had survived the desolate freeze that had taken more than a few of the fish in the pond.

"So these are the babies that you helped when you broke the ice open that day," I told him, awe coloring my tone as we looked upon the resilient creatures, thriving in the late Spring sun, swimming and bobbing the surface like they hadn't once been trapped under a thick sheet of ice, unable to reach food and had almost died because of it.

"Wow.  They're little survivors, aren't they?"

A thick emotion settled on my shoulders and I blinked back tears, and I wasn't sure if they were for the fish, or for us...

"Come on, we can go to my cabin first then hit your dorm," Lachlan said, and there was a glint in his eyes that had me worried.

He'd told me happy birthday in the morning and had woken me up in a very...pleasurable way, (birthday sex- highly recommend) but he hadn't made a huge deal about it, which didn't phase me.  I loved birthdays, but I wasn't opposed to quiet birthdays spent with immediate loved ones, like the birthday dinner my mom planned for me after I finished up with Lachlan.  Jessie was invited, as well as Ellen and my dad, and I just hoped that their brand new baby boy was going to be in attendance.

He wasn't my blood, but he was family.  A brother, I had gained one whereas Lachlan had lost one, and the poetry of the cycle of life wasn't lost on me, or my boyfriend.

He'd stared at Jeremiah's tiny, squishy and plump face and tears rolled in salty tracks down his face, wrapping his arms around me as he met my new little brother and something squeezed my chest in a vise grip at the sight of him melting for a little newborn.

Lachlan brought me back to the present, looping his arm through mine and tugging me along with him on the shaded path towards his cabin, the path well worn by the both of us considering it was our little home that we'd created with each other, a nest away from the angst and trauma, a place where we could just be ourselves and talk about anything and everything with each other, a place where we could heal, together.

Nights spent lounging on his large couch, my head in his lap while he splayed his fingers in my hair and massaged my scalp while reading one of his books aloud as I stared into the crackling fireplace, deep peace settling within my soul.

Nights spent laughing out loud at Lachlan's ridiculous antics as he danced to popular songs that flowed through the radio while I cooked my famous ramen noodle from a package meal, our combined trauma making us feel much older than we actually were, but the domestication was cathartic for us, allowing us a sense of normalcy we'd never really had before, especially not Lachlan, always having to walk on eggshells around his father and the rest of his family.

School had come and gone without incident, and while I was still waiting for the news about the Manhattan School of Music, my hopes were high.  The directors had seemed to love my compositions and even my original songs which were contemporary and not traditional like they usually seemed to prefer.

Everything was looking up, and while I constantly worried at night waiting for the other shoe to drop, it never did.

At first, I looked over my shoulder incessantly, just knowing that someone or something was going to pop up out of the darkness and the shadows that the bright light of my happiness created and ruin everything, just like everything had always been ruined before, but nothing had happened, nothing jumped out and screamed, "BOO!"

Nothing was going to happen, I realized with a start.  This was the rest of my life, and yes there would be hardships to come, but with the people I loved who loved me back just as fiercely by my side then I could really face anything that was thrown my way.  Anything.

I intertwined my fingers with Lachlan's and beamed up at him, a megawatt smile that tried to convey just how right everything had felt with him and his staggering response was enough to make me stifle a laugh.

"If you're this happy about just coming to my cabin, I have an even bigger surprise," he said steadily, reaching the wooden door of said cabin and flinging it open, the cacophony of screams and happy laughter reaching my ears just as a single word was uttered out in synchronicity.

"SURPRISE!"

"Happy birthday, Katie-Kat!"

"Oh my god, that's even worse than Kit-Kat," I told Vera who'd just uttered the nickname after the shock of the surprise jump scare had worn off.

Everyone was there, and I mean everyone.

Lachlan had invited my mother, Jessie, my dad and Ellen, their beautiful little bundle squeaking and writhing around in the new mother's arms, but she was a pro and wasn't phased, coming to place a kiss on my cheek and wishing me a happy birthday, all while bouncing her two month old baby and somehow keeping him from letting loose the wail that I knew was building in his throat from the loud noises.

Lachlan's cabin was decorated in gold and black decorations, balloons with the number eighteen hanging in the center by the fireplace, and all of our friends huddled around it waiting for me to join them.

"Come on, its customary for the birthday girl to get a picture with these random giant numbers so everyone knows you're legal now!"

I laughed and joined Vera, posing for pictures with my mom as an impromptu photographer.

"Hey, so Lachlan's seventeen and now you're eighteen.  Does that make you the bad influence on him?  Lach, what's it feel like to be dating an older woman?"

"Lincoln!  He's only younger than me by like a month," I protested but Lachlan only wrapped his hand around my waist tighter, pulling me into his body in a possessive move that wasn't lost on me.  It had my mouth watering and my body craving when the house would be empty and just the two of us so I could satiate the desire that racketed inside of me at just the mere sight of the boy that I loved.

"Yeah, Kate you're pretty much a cougar now!"

We all laughed along to Lincoln's jokes, always glad to have him around as our resident comedian. 

"Guys, it's the Manhattan School of Music," I announced, the music suddenly cutting off as I answered the phone call, everyone waiting with bated breath as I said, "Hello?"

"Yes, hi this is Evelyn Sparks, the head casting director for MSM, is this Katrina Randolph?"

"Yes, this is she," I said, voice trembling because I knew that rejections usually happened via email, not over the phone.  My heart was thundering in my chest, waiting for what she was going to say next, Lachlan's hand tightening around my hip bringing me closer to him so he could dip his head down and hear what was being said on the other line.

"Katrina, lovely to speak with you again.  I wanted to let you know that after making the final cuts, we took a look over your audition tape one more time and decided that we would absolutely love to have you join our program at the school, and we'd want to put you in our brand new contemporary division, which focuses on more popular styles of music in today's time and less focus on the traditional, classical style of music.  How does that sound?"

Was that even a question?

"It sounds amazing.  Thank you so much for this opportunity," I answered, shaking with the phone still in my hands as my mom started squealing a little but Sloane shushed her immediately, waiting until I ended the call with promises to come and visit the campus before it was time to register for classes.

"Well, that just happened," I announced and then there were more hugs, more squeals, and then it was time for cake and presents. 

From my mom, dad, Ellen and Jessie, they all decided to go in on one big gift and got me a car.  A freaking car. 

I'd pay my own insurance and maintenance, but they had bought it outright, the model only a few years old just in case I wrecked it.  They didn't want to get me a fancy model when I wasn't all too well versed on the road, but I hoped that would soon change.

More hugs, some tears.

Then came my friend's present. 

We were going on a vacation before school started, the week before to be exact, and we were going to be going somewhere far far away from ice and snow and rain.

"I've never been to Hawaii!  How did you guys manage to afford this?"

My friends shot guilty glances at Lachlan.

"It helps when the main person paying is kind of already a millionaire by default," Taylor piped up, tilting his head towards Lachlan in appreciation.

"Babe?  You didn't have to do that," I said warmly but Lincoln interrupted me before I could turn and place a hand on his arm like I'd planned.

"Uh, it's actually no refunds, by the way.  Just...saying..." he trailed off, causing a laugh to fall out of Lachlan's mouth. 

"Don't worry, it wasn't even a drop in the bucket.  Its a better way to spend my father's blood money than what he had it intended for, that's for sure."

Blythe tensed beside Vera at the mention of their father, serving a life sentence in prison for the murder of his son, but she quickly shook it off and joined in the celebration while Lachlan pulled me off to the side.

"I wanted to give this to you earlier but I was a little distracted," he told me, eyebrows waggling to remind me of why he'd been distracted.

Oh, I remembered, and there was going to be a lot more of distracting going on soon if I had anything to say about it. 

Inside a black velvet rectangular box lay a crystal encrusted diamond pendant necklace, an opal stone and an emerald green stone set together in a way that made them seem like they were almost touching, hardly any space between them.  It was glistening and glittering under the cabin lights and my breath caught upon my first sight of it.

"It's our birth stones, May and October."

If I hadn't already swooned enough for him already, that was probably the tipping point.

"Whatcha get her man, you proposing already?"

We laughed at Lincoln's joke, but Lachlan threw my entire world upside down when he leaned towards me and whispered, "Not yet," in my ear.

The rest of the night was spent in a blinding glazed over state of purity, the thought that I was Lachlan's endgame as grounding and firm as the feel of his necklace draped around my neck.

These were my people, this was my home, and in the afterglow of the sizzling snapping of the fire and the effervescent honey golden light that it cast upon us all, I couldn't imagine anywhere better.

The End.

Author's Note:

Never before have I ever had such a visceral reaction to writing an ending before in my life, but I swear my heart just skipped a beat as I typed out that very last sentence, every word of it coming straight from my heart.

Thank you all for going on this incredible journey with me and to the finish line of this book, it has definitely been a wild ride. 

Now, onto the next book! 

Keep reading for a sneak peak at Swish:  A basketball romance with a twinge of Enemies to Lovers ;)

Walking into the gym for my first day on the job, and I'm assaulted in the face with balls. So. Many. Balls.

Bouncing, sailing, swishing, all moving through the air at high speeds, and I was caught suddenly rethinking my idea of an occupation that I desperately needed for income. Like, desperately.

Living off of ramen noodles and PB&J's was no cake walk, as I was dying for some cake-any kind.  Seriously. 

And still, I was contemplating pulling a no-call, no-show to this job simply because the amount of balls in this gym, as well as the freakishly tall (and mouthwateringly gorgeous) men handling said balls, were all vastly and irrevocably intimidating. As hell.

But I was Virginia Bruins, and I was stronger than the need to run screaming from the thought of a sport that held so many chances for me to risk death by basketball.  Heaven knows I'd endured far, far worse.

Shoes squeaking on the freshly waxed shiny gym floor, I marched right up to the information desk off to the side of the multiple courts that the gym held and straightened my shoulders, lifted my chin high and attempted to exude an air of professionalism that I hoped didn't reek of the self doubt that was flowing through my veins like the sugar from the donut I'd inhaled ten minutes prior to walking in.

"How can I help you?"

The woman behind the desk was absolutely, irrevocably, drop dead, ten out of ten gorgeous in every capacity. 

Captivating blue eyes, wide and innocent paired with waist length, wavy chestnut brown hair, her face was a masterpiece painted with brush strokes of high cheekbones, an adorable button nose, and a creamy clear complexion to die for. 

Needless to say, I had a total girl crush.

"I'm Virginia Bruins, today is my first day," I tried to announce in a strong enough voice, but it really came out like a squeaking mouse.

I cleared my throat after that.

She sorted through a stack of paperwork on her desk, blue eyes skipping between me and the players on the court running drills back and forth, back and forth across the gym floor.  That looked tiring.  One more trip with my eyeballs back and forth across the court and I already needed a nap.

I wished I had the determination and stamina, as well as the courage that it took to pursue a sport like that with such vehemence.  I wished I wasn't as content so as to simply curl up on the couch, binge watch Netflix or play piano for hours instead of anything remotely involving physical activity.

"Okay great, I'm Maddie, and I'm the manager here.  You can follow me and we'll get your picture taken for your employee ID, get your paperwork signed, and I'll need a blank voided check for your payroll automatic deposits."

I hadn't met Maddie for my interview.  No, that honor was given to the owner of the gym and biggest booster supporter for the school, Chuck Manning, who my parents knew from their time together in college, at this very school actually. 

The University of Central Miami had the best basketball program in the entire United States, and bred NBA Draft picks like prized Golden-doodles, (a mix between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle.  Yes, it's a real thing...).

Why did I know these seemingly niche facts about a sport that I absolutely detested with ever fibre of my being?

My wonderful father, the man who always loved and cared for me, protected me and raised me into (what I hoped was) a wonderful eighteen year old, decided that I should know the ins and outs of the world.  His world.

Being drafted into the NBA before I was born, he spent his entire life focused on one goal: being one of the greats.  And he damn sure achieved it. 

Until he threw it all away.  One bad night, one car accident, one drink too many, and my dad was left wheelchair ridden, unable to play his sport the way he used to.  He still played on a league every now and then specifically for those in wheelchairs, but he never reached national acclaim ever again.

"Wait, you're Virginia Bruins.  Bruins, as in Mike Bruins?  From the Lakers back in the nineties?"

I stared at Maddie blankly, desperate to escape this conversation.

"No, my last name is probably just really popular," I lied to her through my teeth. 

It wasn't that I was ashamed of my father's basketball achievements, quite the opposite really, I just didn't want to be treated differently at this new job because of him.

My love-hate relationship with basketball was another story for another day, but needless to say I was desperate in taking this job.  My dad was teaching me the value of the dollar, and had made sure that we grew up modestly, but finding a job last minute at the beginning of freshman year with little to no experience was...difficult to say the least, so he'd called in a favor with his resident gym owner and voila!  Brand new job for V.

"Hmm, okay.  Well, come on, we can take your ID picture here at the front, it's how we make our membership cards," she said while pointing to the small black camera stuck to