Licentious (26 page)

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Authors: Jen Cousineau

BOOK: Licentious
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Epilogue

One Year Later

 

Joey

 

Alé
and I have been married for six months now. He wanted a huge, elegant affair to show the world that I was going to be his wife. It took months of arguing and debating back and forth with him, and eventually, I ended up using my back up—Ma. With the help of Ma, we were able to convince him to do a small, private affair with just the people we care about most.

We had beautiful weather for a mid-June ceremony and reception outside. His immediate family and our closest friends joined us. We decided against having a wedding party
, but we did ask Addison and Tommy to be our official witnesses for court documentation.

Alé
couldn’t understand at first why I was hell bent on a small wedding, but when I finally worked up the courage to let him know how much I missed my family, and how much it hurt knowing that they weren’t going to be there and that my daddy wasn’t going to be able to give me away, or dance with me at my wedding, I didn’t want to waste time from our special day with people that I barely knew. Our wedding should be about us, and the people we
love
. Not the people that we care about as a human being, but really have no other ties to besides obligations through work or social etiquette.

I
knew he understood where I was coming from, and with the help of Ma, he agreed as long as he was able to help decide about the food and entertainment.
At first, I thought his idea was insane, but then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was us. We moved the Sunday barbeque to Saturday, and Alé wore a pair of white swim trunks for the reception. With the help of Alé, Addison, and Alé’s amazing family accepting me for me, and not the imperfections on my body, I began to see myself as beautiful as they told me they did. I was confident come our wedding day to wear the white string bikini that Alé surprised me with when he threw out my comforting red one-piece. I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding day filled with happy memories than what we had.

I finish putting the final touch in the nursery, a black and white photo of Eve, Dad, Aedan, and I from when Aedan and Dad took Eve and me out to celebrate our eighteenth birthday. I enclosed it in a white wooden frame and decided to place it on the dresser and turn it just slightly so it can be seen from every corner of the room.

We decided we didn’t want to wait until the baby arrives to find out the gender, but we still chose a pale green paint color with white accents. I’m not a huge fan of staring at pink every day, and I know that most of her gifts will probably consist of that color.

Alé
surprised me with white wooden music notes and sporadically hung them on the walls. He has decided that our little one is going to be musically talented like Aedan and me. He even surprised me with the name that he came up with on our ride home from our ultrasound—Evelyn Rose. Evelyn after Eve and Rose after Ma, Rosetta. I think it’s perfect, so much so I balled like a baby when he asked me for permission.

I did start writing music again.
Well, I guess I never really stopped. I just never actually played the music out on an instrument or wrote anything down on paper. Alé’s cousin, Stephen, eventually apologized for ‘stealing’ my song. Apparently, he was there that first year at Monsoon for the contest and fell in love with my song. When he never ended up hearing it on the radio, he decided to listen to the sound recordings they had and teach himself how to play it. He was determined to make sure that the whole world would get to hear it one day. Apparently, Alé had entered me into the contest before I even went up on stage to kick Stephen off and perform it myself. I knew the crowd loved the song that night, and it turns out, so did the recording labels. I didn’t win, but the song was bought by a huge label and is currently number one on the charts.

Alé
and I decided to stay at the pool house for the first year or so of our baby’s life so his family is close by, and so Ma can come and help easily when needed. The bonus is that I’m only a few steps away from a beautiful Baby Grand Piano. I’ve been using it more and more lately and even started sharing my music with Alé and the family.

I originally chose to never play again because of the guilt of what my dreams caused. But after the event that took place with my Mom at Kellan and Maria’s wedding, I now realize that it wasn’t my dreams that caused it. No matter what, I now know that my
mom would’ve found a way to do what she did anyway.

Playing and composing again makes me feel closer to them. I always thought Eve was my other half. And in a way she was, but so
were Dad and Aedan. Now I realize that maybe there is a higher power. And maybe, just maybe they had a hand in making sure that Kellan and I reunited and that Alé and I met.

I may have lost my family, but they helped me
become a part of a new one. And this family has ensured that they get to know my family so they can love them just as much as Kellan and I do and so they can help tell Evelyn all about them.

I never really understood why God didn’t take me that day just so I could endure hell day after day. But now, as my hand rests on my six
-month pregnant belly, and I look around the nursery that we’ll be using soon, now I fully get it. Now I understand my purpose for surviving.

 

 

“Music is life. That’s why our hearts have beats”
—Unknown

 

The End

 

Note from the Author

Thank you for taking the time to read Licentious. The musical ideas of this story actually stemmed from the song Human by Christina
Perri when I heard it for the first time driving down the highway. The ‘mafia’ portion and the angst of this story came to me when Monster by Eminem and Rhianna followed. As soon as I reached my destination, I whipped out some paper and started writing the few ideas that I had. A few days later, the story started to evolve more and more until it wouldn’t allow me to focus on anything else. So, I started my research.

My original thoughts of the Italian ‘Mafia’
were from what I’ve learned from books and movies. But as I researched more and more, I found some interesting tidbits of how the Italian Costra Nostra (AKA the mafia) views rape and disrespecting woman. I believe, from my understandings of the information I read, to partially be based off the values of a traditional Italian family. But also, the ‘family’ actually believes that if a member of the ‘family’ can’t be trusted by who they give their heart and commitment to, then they can’t be trusted at all. They are then viewed to be lower than a thief.

I had a very hard time trying to determine how to end
Alé and Joey’s story as I had two endings flowing through. To be honest, half of me wanted to kill Joey off. But thanks to my amazing beta reader’s they helped me realize what my message really was. And if I killed Joey, then my message would’ve been lost.

Now, I’m not saying every person in the ‘mob’ is a good person.
But
the same can be said for cops, lawyers, accountants, etc. Sometimes good people do shitty things. And sometimes shitty things happen to good people. And sometimes, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, a happily ever after truly does exist.

I would love for you to leave a review after you finished
Alé and Joey’s story. Whether you loved it or hated it, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Acknowledgements

I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet and cross my fingers that I haven’t forgotten anyone...

First
of all, I need to thank my amazing husband, Jim, for everything that he has done to help me get this book accomplished. He picked up A LOT of slack for me so I could focus on writing this story as soon as he came home from work until the wee hours of the morning, just to get up and do it all over again. And surprise! He even helped me with a few of the steamy scenes!! To my daughters, Butterfly & Lovebug, I know you guys are so young and won’t be allowed to read this until you’re older, but your enthusiasm and sacrifice of time with me will mean more to me than you will ever know. I love all three of you so much, and I can only hope that you never forget or doubt that.

To my amazing beta readers: Corinne
Vande Zande, Karen Van Horn, Sara Waldvogel, Amber Parenteau, Debbie Kollins, Stephanie Gresham, Steph Schiefer, Katrina
Albarracin
, Ginger Andrews, Norma Grijalva, Kelly Sloane, & Chelsea Barnes. Each and every single one of you contributed in some way to make this story as amazing as it is. Whether it was letting me bounce ideas off of you, rereading, or getting together with me for wine and brainstorming, or even kicking my ass into gear and out of the bitch squad, and encouraging me to finish when I thought I was never going to reach my deadline. I LOVE each and every single one of you!

To my brother, Erik, who helped me with all the ideas I had rolling around in my head. Being a police officer, my crazy texts on how to kill someone and legal aspects – he
swallowed them with grace and gave me the information that I needed without thinking that I needed to be locked away ;)
To my AMAZING and kickass new PA’s! Norma Grijalva and Kelly Fallon Sloane – you both amaze me. Just starting out and we are kicking ass. Well – you ladies are, I’m just along for the ride ;) Seriously, though, the efforts and time and knowledge you have put into this book is astounding. I cannot wait to see what’s ahead for us. I feel like a simple Thank You is just… too simple. I feel like you both deserve so much more! I love you both!

Of course
, to my amazing and talented editor, Rogena Mitchell-Jones. I flippin’ love you! You seriously are amazing and one of the sweetest people I have ever known. I cannot wait for you to read A Secret Gamble :)

To Kari
Ayasha – thank you so much for allowing me to hound you with questions and emails through the search of the perfect cover. I absolutely love this cover – you did phenomenal on it! :)

I also want to thank all the amazing readers who have given me a chance. None of us indie authors would be doing what we
do if it weren’t for all of you! To all the amazing bloggers and authors out there that I have met thus far, or have yet to meet – you all are amazing! The positivity and strength in the relationships that most of you have proven and given to me thus far is incredible. It makes me so confident in my decision to give this dream a chance. Thank you to each and every one of you!

Coming Soon

A Secret Gamble

Winter 2014

 

Dominating Elijah

Spring 2015

 

About the Author

 

Jen is a Chapstick and coffee addict, living in the Badger State with her husband, James and their twin daughters, Kaylynn and Lilly. She loves to bow hunt and is a food junkie. She’s an obsessive reader with a secret passion for writing. Jen has always been a strong believer that dreamers live happier lives and decided to show her girls that hard work and dedication can make your dreams come true no matter where you are in your life.

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