Winston's POV:

What. The. Fuck?!

I'm seeing things...

Glancing around despite my racing heart, I noticed that everyone else also seemed to be staring in shock at the glowing translucent woman – or Miranda as Jonathan, Macy, and Amanda had called her.

Okay, so maybe I'm not the only one seeing things...

"Foxy?" Jonathan mumbled lowly, drawing Miranda's attention away from Amanda. "You're actually here?"

We're in the presence of a ghost!

"I've always been here, Bugsy," Miranda replied as she floated – glided – over to where Jonathan stood beside me. My breathing faltered and nervous sweats broke out across my skin. "I've never left."

Is this technically classified as being haunted?

"B-but how are you here? Why? Why now?!"

My boyfriend was asking all of the right questions because everyone else – except April and Alyssa – were too stunned to move or say anything.

"I realized that I couldn't cross over because there was unfinished business for me to take care of," Miranda answered as the glow around her seemed to dim. "I thought that unfinished business was introducing you, Bugsy, to your other soulmate so that you wouldn't be alone."

"Other soulmate?" My boyfriend asked confusedly.

"Yes. I was one of your soulmates – in a more platonic sense – while Winston here is the love of your life," the ghost – Miranda – said before glancing at me with a playful wink. I wanted to smile at the loaded declaration, but I couldn't even blink, much less move my lips. "However, I realized that you weren't my unfinished business at all after finally getting you two to meet."

"Then what is?"

"It's her!" Miranda answered in a burst of anger as she returned to hover over Amanda. "You leave us without a trace then have the nerve to come back and demand to be in my daughters' lives?!"

"I-I-I-" Amanda stuttered, unable to get her thoughts out due to how scared she was. I didn't blame her. My heart hadn't stopped beating at a mile per minute since Miranda's grand entrance.

"You tore our family apart and claimed to never have wanted kids, but now that you can't make anymore, you want to return and take mine?!" With every word, Miranda seemed to get angrier and her voiced raised to an almost deafening level. "You have no right!"

"Miranda, please."

"You didn't even come to my funeral."

"What?" Marilyn interrupted gently, drawing all of our attention to her. "Mandy, you lied to me? You said your ex kept you away from your daughters because she was being spiteful that you divorced her, and you were too scared to try to see them after being rejected so many times until she passed."

"You said what?" Jonathan seethed beside me as his eyes darkened considerably. "Girls, go to your rooms."

April and Alyssa didn't have to be told twice before hurrying out of the living room.

"I've been waiting since day one to smack this bitch," Macy spoke grimly, shoving us aside as she stormed in Amanda's direction. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around her waist so that she didn't get too far. "Winston, let me go!"

"No," I replied while tightening my hold on her. As much as I was starting to think she deserved it, Amanda was in no position for a beat down. It would be an unfair fight, and even more so, we were grown adults capable of having a discussion rather than a brawl. Macy didn't let up though as she struggled childishly in my embrace. "As a leader of a number of support groups, you of all people should be open to having a conversation about this."

"All bets are off the table when it comes to her," Macy gritted, but thankfully she stopped trying to get me to release her. That didn't stop her from threatening Amanda who still had yet to say anything. "Start talking, bitch, because the only reason you still have that pretty face of yours is because I don't want to hurt Winston."

I am flabbergasted.

"Why'd you do it?" Miranda questioned lowly, sounding absolutely devastated. It was only then that I realized I was no longer terrified of her presence. My heartstrings tugged painfully in my chest, feeling her projected sadness. "We needed you – I needed you – and you just left us! I want to hate you, but realizing that you're the reason I've stayed for so long just confirms that I don't."

"You weren't fighting for us!" Amanda finally got her voice as tears rushed down her face. "You didn't even try to get treatment for your cancer. You were ready to leave us even before I ultimately decided to. Were April and Alyssa not reason enough to stay and keep fighting?! Was I not enough?"

Silence.

The house was so tensely silent that you could hear a pin drop. I released my hold on Macy, thankful that she made no move to go after Amanda again. She too seemed stunned by her confession.

"Everyone is so fucking pissed at me for leaving; but did any of you consider that Miranda did the same fucking thing?! The only difference between us is that her method was more permanent! She could've gotten treatment! She could've fought for our family, but she didn't! I was so mad at you, so I took my things and vanished. I wasn't going to just sit around and watch the woman I loved die right before my eyes. I didn't want to remember you like that in your final years."

Someone say something...

"Everyone is speechless now, huh?" Amanda questioned with a roll of her eyes. "Figures."

"Mandy..."

"Save it, Marilyn. I'm so sorry for lying to you, love, but the truth was more painful to admit than anything else. I wasn't good enough."

"That's not true," Miranda finally spoke again. "You were more than enough!"

"Then why didn't you try to cure your cancer? Why were you so okay with dying and leaving everyone behind?!"

"I-I don't have an answer for you," Miranda sighed. "None that I would possibly accept if the roles were reversed."

"So, I was just supposed to be okay with you killing yourself?"

"No, but you could have at least been there for our family!"

"A family you were so easily ready to tear apart!"

Tense silence engulfed the Russell household once more.

As an outsider looking in, I didn't think that either of them was in the right. With how long Miranda survived after receiving her diagnosis, I was sure that there was a chance of her surviving her cancer. However, it was her decision to not accept treatment, and I suppose as her wife, it was Amanda's obligation to stick around. Didn't their vows say, "in sickness and in health"?

But what do I know?

I've only ever been in one relationship – two if we're counting Jonathan, and we weren't even married.

"It's weighed on my chest for years of how you could just up and leave us like that, only to find out that it was all my fault." Once the words left her lips, the light surrounding Miranda's figure began diminishing until she resembled a normal human being. She looked down at herself in shock, surprised at her own new appearance, before returning her saddened gaze to Amanda. "I guess I've completed my unfinished business. I'm so sorry, Amanda. I never meant to cause you so much pain."

"I'm sorry too, Foxy," Amanda sighed. "I'm as much at fault as you are. We made a promise to each other in our wedding vows and I broke them without a second thought."

Hey, maybe I do know a little something.

"I suppose I was never really ready to let you go, but you don't deserve to be stuck here because of me."

"I appreciate that," Miranda smiled sadly before something we couldn't see drew her attention to an empty corner of the living room. "I can see the light now."

"Is it everything you imagined it to be?"

"It's honestly even better."

Taking a moment, Miranda walked over to Marilyn, causing the woman to shrink into herself a bit. "It was nice meeting you. It's good to know that Amanda has someone in her life to help with the pain I've caused."

"I'll make sure to help her in any way I can."

"That's all I ask."

"Before you go, can I ask you about my mom?" I found my voice to question quietly as Miranda began walking in the direction of said light. She turned to me with a disheartened look that had the smallest hint of hope I held onto to disappear.

"I didn't get the chance to talk to her since she crossed immediately after passing," she told me, causing my chest to constrict and my eyes to water. "I hope to meet her again on the other side though. I'm sure she'll be happy to know that you're doing just fine down here."

"Will you tell her that I love her and miss her every day?"

"I'd be happy to, Winston." Miranda's smile brightened. "Will you take care of Jonathan and our girls for me?" she questioned teasingly.

"Nothing to worry about there," I laughed despite the steady stream of tears running down my face. "I promise they're in good hands."

Miranda gave a watery laugh of her own before nodding her head in agreement.

"I know they are," she smirked. "I've been watching you, remember?"

I absolutely did not snort.

"Do we get a goodbye too?" Macy asked a few seconds later. I turned my gaze towards her, only now realizing that she had been crying.

"Oh, Pebbles, don't cry over me."

"How could I not? I've missed you so much, and now you're just going to be gone again."

"It's my time."

"I know. It doesn't make this hurt any less."

"Would it help to know that I've been looking out for you too? Blaine is a real cutie, huh?" Miranda grinned, making Macy gasp.

"It was you?!"

"I can't just help one musketeer and forget about the other, now can I?"

"You're something else," Jonathan shook his head with a chuckle.

"You know it, Bugsy," Miranda winked before focusing on Macy once more. "Now that my work here is done, it's up to you both to figure the rest out. Bugsy and Winston have."

"What's there left for me to do?" Macy wondered.

"You'll see," Miranda answered evasively. "I must get going now. You all take care of yourselves."

We all nodded before watching her go, holding our breaths in anticipation as she turned back with a final wave before disappearing.

***

"Mommy is gone now," Alyssa said lowly as I tucked her into bed.

"Yeah, she is," I confirmed while combing my fingers through her hair.

"I'm going to miss her," April piped up beside her, deciding to spend the night in her sister's bed instead of her own.

"I'm sure you will, angel."

"I'm not sad though," Alyssa continued. "We have you, Bubba, and that's okay."

"You really think so?" I questioned as my stomach filled with warmth.

"Yup," April nodded while smiling brightly, albeit a bit tiredly. "You're all we need now."

***

Jonathan crawled into the bed beside me, plucking my book from my hand and causing a laugh to past my lips. He wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me closer to his chest before planting a sweet kiss on my nose. I snuggled into his embrace, accepting his affection like the true sap I was.

"Today was quite a day, huh, sweetness?"

"It was definitely one for the history books," I replied with another laugh.

"Sorry if it wasn't what you signed up for when you agreed to move in."

"Are you kidding me? This kind of excitement is exactly what my dreary life needed," I told him as I ran my fingers through his hair.

"Well then, care to add a bit more excitement?"

Leaning back, I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, becoming very suspicious of the wide grin on his face.

"Don't tell me you have more ghosts haunting this place because Miranda was more than enough. I'd probably have a heart attack if there was another."

"Honestly, that's something only Alyssa and April can tell you," Jonathan chuckled before drawing me in closer. "I meant something a bit more binding."

For a moment I didn't understand what he was getting at, but then my brain clicked in understanding and my eyes began watering almost immediately. Quickly I sat up and pressed my hand against my boyfriend's chest in order to create some space between us. He followed suit shortly after, sitting up with a contagious smile on his lips.

"Jonathan are you-"

Before I could finish my question, he reached into his bedside table to pull out a small velvet box. I watched with bated breath as he then stood from the bed, making my heart pound loudly in my chest as he got down on one knee.

"Jonathan-"

"I don't know why you're so surprised, sweetness," he chuckled as he opened the box. The tears in my eyes were making it a bit difficult to see, but I'm sure the ring inside was absolutely gorgeous. "I've told you numerous amounts of times that I'm going to marry you one day."

"Yeah, but just because someone says something doesn't mean it'll actually happen," I told him as I wiped my wet cheeks.  "Shut up! Don't laugh at me. I want my proposal."

"I didn't write some lengthy speech professing my unconditional love for you or anything," Jonathan sighed teasingly, making me chuckle. "You already know how much you mean to me, and with every passing day, I'm just in awe of how I was given the opportunity to be with someone as amazing as you. You are a breath of fresh air in this suffocating world and I honestly can't picture not having you in my life. Marriage may just be a piece of paper to others, but to me, it's a commitment to love and support you through the good and bad times. And while we definitely don't need to be married for me to do so, I want to be able to take care and show you off in a legal and social sense as well. Miranda's declaration makes me want to do so just a bit quicker than most. So, as I remain down here on bended knee, I ask you, Winston Abraham Monroe, will you grant me the honor of becoming your husband?"

Breathe, Winston. Breathe!

I took in a much need inhale of fresh air before finally responding.

"I don't know. Can I think about it?"

"Winston..."

"I'm kidding!" I laughed as I remembered that this was exactly how the moment went when he asked me to be his boyfriend. "I would love to marry you, Jonathan."

"Oh yeah?"

I rolled my eyes but giddily held my hand out so that he could slip the ring onto my finger. I admired the beautiful silver band before drawing him up from the floor and planting my lips on his. He deepened the kiss immediately as he crawled over me, exploring my mouth sensually with his tongue. When I knew we were going to get too far, I pulled back a little, licking the trail of saliva between us before looking up at him with gleaming eyes.

"I love you so much," I mumbled lowly as I rubbed my nose with his.

"I love you more, sweetness," Jonathan replied before kissing me quickly once more. This time he didn't go too far, instead deciding to pull back with an excited shout, likely waking everyone in the house.

"WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!"

***

.:Author's Note:.

The epilogue is next.

I think I've closed every open storyline. However, if there are any questions left, please feel free to ask.

Anything pertaining to Ellis will be answered in book two, so I recommend not leaving questions about him. 😋