After the End: The End, #2

By Stephanie Albright

Due to popular demand, the second work in the The End series is here. After Kevin leaves Lucy and breaks her heart, she must find a way to pick up the pieces of her life. This story picks up shortly after The End left off. Will Lucy and Kevin find their way back to each other? Is there new love for them? And what will happen to the new USA, After the End?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephanie Albright
• Release date: Mar 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215782521

Book preview

Preface

As I sit here in the window and look out over Winyah Bay, I think about all the times I have stared out at the sea. I am remembering all the different places I have been as I watched the waves. The sea has always held the power to calm and to heal me. When I die I want my children to place my ashes into an empty tequila bottle and toss me into the waves, to forever be a part of the sea.  

I am sitting here in my apartment above the bar that I love so much, in the city that I have always loved, Georgetown. I finally was able to fulfill my dream and live here on Front Street above the bar that I named Granny’s Place. The building was a gift from the best friend anyone could ever wish to know. I served two terms as governor and one term as president of the new colonies. That was ten years ago. I will soon be turning over the bar to my grandson, Michael, and I will retire to live on the beach once again. The last time was 30 years ago and the beach was Diego Garcia, this time it will be Pawley’s Island.

My children and grandchildren have been scattered all throughout the three colonies. Michael, my oldest grandson, is the only one here in Georgetown. We have repopulated the coastline of all three colonies and are working our way inland. Virginia will be next.

I have had a good life, better than many people. I lived through the end of the world and so did all my children. That should be enough for anyone, but I was blessed with so much more. I found the love of my life and had two more children. I lived on the most beautiful beach in the world. I was elected governor two times and I was the first president of the new United States of America and the first woman president. My children have all married now. I have wonderful son and daughters-in-law and my grandchildren are my heart, all seventeen of them.

The love of my life is dead now, so I guess I am free to tell our whole story, the good and the bad and the nearly unspeakable. He can’t haunt me any more than he already does.

Chapter 1

The trouble with telling stories is deciding where to begin, so I will begin at the end. Everyone knows the beginning of the story already. Kevin and I met on a camping trip when the world seemed to be coming to an end. How we survived together, fell in love, and helped to re-establish the United States of America is well known. Most people know that Kevin found out that I had been an industrial spy, stealing plans for new technologies and giving them to my ‘real’ employer, and left me and Charleston. Only a few know that when he left, he said that I was his biggest mistake and that those words forever changed me. On the outside, I seemed fine even to those close to me. I continued as the governor of South Carolina and worked very hard to clean up and repopulate more cities and eventually to help open Georgia as the second colony of the new United States of America. I continued to be the mom to all seven of my children and Grammy to my grandson. But something inside me died that day when Kevin spoke those words and slammed the door.

He sent himself on a mission to look for supplies and to assess the structural damage to areas accessible by boat. He was gone for two years. A few weeks after he left I was served with divorce papers, I signed them. As governor, I received his reports as they came in each week, but never a note or phone call for me personally. He did keep in contact with his son, Clark, and with our twin daughters, Sophie and Caroline. He had no contact with my four sons, who had loved him as a father.

His commanding officer came to see me when Kevin had been gone nearly two years. Ma’am, I don’t understand why you sent General Adams off on this mission. He is the highest-ranking officer on the continent right now and he should be here in Charleston to run things. You cannot let your personal feelings place the colony in danger.

I didn’t send General Adams on this mission, he sent himself, I said, trying not to bite the man’s head off.

Well, then Ma’am, I will take care of it myself, and he stormed out of my office.

Three weeks later, Kevin came back. His troops had located and shipped so many things that we needed, medical supplies, fabric, raw materials for our manufacturing plants, that they received a hero’s welcome. Most of the colony was waiting at the harbor when the boats came in. The men got off the boats to a cheering crowd.  

Kevin was one of the last to disembark; I was on a platform waiting to give a speech to welcome them home with Granny and kids. Kevin stepped up onto the dock and then turned to take a baby from a young, beautiful woman behind him and help her onto the dock. He put his arm around her waist and they walked away together. Instantly, I felt Clark’s arm link with mine on one side, and my son Owen’s arm came around me on the other, as the truth of what I was seeing sank in. I should have been angry, but instead, all I felt was hurt and betrayed. I was numb, thank God; it kept me from a public meltdown.

It’s okay, Mama. Just make your speech and after the party starts we can all go home, Owen whispered in my ear. Then over my head, he hissed, Clark, why didn’t you tell us this was going to happen.

I didn’t know, he didn’t tell me about any of it. He looked down into my eyes, Mom, I had no idea he.... well, I’m done with him! He spat.

I couldn’t speak, I just nodded at him.

I gave my speech and officially began the welcoming celebration. We stayed for an hour, then we all went to my house. Kevin called Clark and asked him to bring the girls to see him.

Clark, take them and go, they barely remember him and if you are with them they won’t be scared. Don’t do it for him, do it for your sisters and for me, I pleaded.

I will do it for you and them, he said angrily. I could almost feel sorry for Kevin, almost.

An hour and a half later Clark and the girls were back, none of them looked happy. The girls were hungry and tired. We gave them a snack and sent them to bed. Clark was just pissed. He was pacing back and forth and muttering. Finally, he sat down and filled us in.

Dad and Monica have been married for a year and a half. The baby is 15 months old and his name is Kevin Jr. Dad was mad because the girls didn’t remember him, but Monica talked to him. She took Kevin Jr. for a walk to give us time alone. I let Dad have it and kind of scared the girls. Caroline started to warm up to him before we left, but not Sophie. He told me to tell you that he will have his attorney work up a custody agreement for the girls and that he will be in touch, the attorney not Dad. I am so sorry, Mom. I had no idea that he was remarried, he never said anything about Monica or the baby on the phone.

Clark, none of this is your fault. Thank you for taking the girls, it made it a lot easier for all of us for you to be with them. No matter what happens, you are still a part of our family and we all love you, I said patting him on the shoulder.

Thanks, I was hoping that you would say that, he said sadly.

Everyone assured him that we all felt that way and he smiled as he left for the base. That night, Granny brought a bottle of wine and two glasses to my room after everyone had gone to bed.

I was just thinking about how much I could use a glass of wine, I said.

Me too. I just don’t understand the General. The human thing to do would have been to let you know and let you prepare the kids. It’s like he has become a different person, she said sipping her wine.

I guess somewhere deep down inside, I still hoped that...he would come back and things would ... I guess... The tears that I had held in all day began to roll down my cheeks. I thought that I had made peace with the fact that it was over, but I guess some part of me still had held some hope that we might be able to fix things. But what hurts me the most is that he is treating my boys like they did something wrong. They loved him like a father and he just dropped them like they were nothing to him. I could never do that to Clark, I love him like a son.

I didn’t think much could surprise me anymore, but Kevin’s behavior has. I had never seen two people more in love than the two of you, and I never in a million years thought that he would treat you and the boys like this.

We sat quietly and finished the bottle, then Granny took the glasses, hugged me and said, If you need me, you know where I’ll be. And she left me alone with my grief.

Chapter 2

The next day, a very young soldier came to the door with a letter for