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Ted fought, but he was tired, and his body gave into his disease. Sarah and Brody helped him. Sarah helped care for him and Brody was by her side. They never left him alone, even at the end. Sarah held his hand when he passed, and she told him the truest words she could.
“I love you, Ted, for giving me two incredible children, and for giving me the love you had in your heart, the best way you could. Thank you for the life you gave me, give Trent a hug for me when you meet him.” She kissed his forehead and Brody leaned over to help her stand back up and said, “Thank you for trusting me with your everything, Ted. I won’t let you down. I will forever love them. Tell Trent thank you.”
Telling Bella when he passed was difficult, but Brody watched mother and daughter. Sarah was his Phoenix, and Bella was definitely her mother’s little fire.
Bella spent a lot of time with her Dad until he got closer to the end, when he didn’t want her to watch him deteriorate. Ted had discussed it with Bella and explained the progression and how he didn’t want her to see him that way. He wanted her to remember him strong. Bella understood, and respected her father’s wishes, but it was not easy. They still talked on the phone, until Ted couldn’t talk, then Bella would talk, and Sarah would hold the phone for him.
The funeral was a huge tribute. The man was a town hero and loved by many. No matter how his life began, he was loved, probably more than he ever realized.
Brody and Sarah got married in the hospital room, before Ted got too bad. He insisted he wanted to see his family happy. Brody wanted to marry Sarah, he just wanted to do it a little differently, but the man had given him everything. This was his dying wish, and Brody wasn’t going to argue.
They were surrounded by their makeshift family, and when the minister asked who gave this woman to be wed, Ted spoke up and said, I do. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Ted’s death still seemed so surreal to everyone, and in some ways, Sarah still had issues dealing with the loss, but yet she was happy with the life she had, the man who loved her, even when she sat holding her ex-husband’s hand on his death bed, he never wavered.
Brody was Sarah’s blessing. Her gift. Just like Trent and Ted were. Bella was definitely the light of Sarah and Brody’s life, much as she was Ted’s.
Ted and Sarah had their time together and they tried to survive as husband and wife, but they had lost their time. Maybe had Ted not left Sarah when she found out she was pregnant, things would have been different, but in the end, Sarah knew things worked out just as they needed too.
Sarah stood on her back patio, when she felt arms wrap around her and she smiled. “What are you doing out here, Mrs. Adams?”
Sarah shivered in his arms. Just hearing him call her that made her feel alive. She turned in his arms and kissed his lips gently. “Thanking my lucky stars for the new chapters in my life.”
Brody smiled at her and said, “I’m glad I get to write the final chapters with you in my arms. I love you, Sarah. You and Bella will always be my greatest gifts. I owe my happiness to Trent and Ted. I’ll never forget their sacrifices.”
Bella smiled up at her husband and said, “I know they’re smiling down on us. Thank you for being who you are, Brody. I couldn’t have asked for a better man.”
Sarah turned back around and let him hold her, while they looked out the back yard. They still didn’t have their farm, but the house was being built, and Brody was helping out with Max’s farm. Allie was due in a few months, so Brody was going to head back there to help out, while Will took some time off after the baby was born.
They found out they were having another boy and Will was ecstatic, because that meant he could keep trying for a little girl. Allie argued with him about it, but Will always won. Allie could never tell him no.
So once William Maxwell Bennet arrived in this world, life for Sarah and Brody would change a little, but they knew their way home.
Sarah talked to Becca often and was trying to help her deal with Blake’s appearance in her life again, and she suggested that once Allie had the baby, maybe she could come spend some time with her and Bella. Becca was looking into taking some time off from her job to do just that, and Sarah was looking forward to getting to know her sister-in-law.
They had traveled to Pleasantville a few times so that Sarah could meet Brody’s parents, and they loved her, and she loved them. They were super sweet and from the first moment she met them, they became Mom and Dad to her. They traveled when Ted was having “good days”, and Brody’s parents always asked how he was doing. They all even came to the funeral.
Sarah would definitely say her life has been filled with a lot of ups and downs, but the pieces that raced her uphill to come crashing back down made her realize that she truly was the Phoenix that Brody saw.
Sometimes it felt like the fire was surrounding her, but she found her strength in the stretch of her wings, as she pulled herself up out of the fire to face off with what tried to pull her down.
Those moments that didn’t break her, led her to where she was today, and although there were things she wished she didn’t have to endure, she knew everything that happened, happened for a reason, and brought her to the life she had now. The final chapter of love is where she found her happily ever after.
