Epilogue

Well, this is it. The final installment of Hollywood Dreams. I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it. Some day I will be a published writer, and when I reach that point, I'll remember all of you and this BLOG fondly. Until then, I'll keep writing, and I hope you keep reading. I haven't decided what is next for the BLOG. I suppose I should have before I got to this point, but, well... Give me a couple of days. I'll let you all know. In the meantime, I've got two other books (one young adult and one adult) completed, and I'd be happy to share them with any and all of you. My email is bethj100@msn.com, so if you would like me to send one of them to you, send me an email. I love to share.

Epilogues are my favorite part of the books I read, so like I said yesterday, I always write one. I love to know what happens to the characters after every thing has quieted down. So, enjoy one last moment with your new friends.

Epilogue

Mankato had never before experienced anything like it. Hollywood had relocated to southern Minnesota in the form of tonight’s Dawn’s New Light premier. At least that’s what we considered it. The studio had insisted on the traditional Grauman’s Chinese Theatre premier, but for Mom, Kyle, Logan and me, tonight was the premier.
Everyone was here. The four of us, of course, but at Jackson’s insistence, a subdued Savannah agreed to make an appearance. It was either show up or risk further alienating one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood. Fresh out of rehab, Savannah was eager to make a new start, so she’d hopped on an airplane and headed to Mankato.
Not that she was alone. It seemed most of Hollywood had been transplanted to Mankato for the night. Every hotel room was full, and the city had undergone a flurry of preparation in the past weeks comparable to another city’s preparation for the Super Bowl or the Olympics.
“Mom! Are you two almost ready to go,” I yelled from the kitchen of our small Mapleton home.
“Almost Kate. We’ll be right there,” she called from her bedroom.
“I simply don’t want to know what they’re up to in there,” I laughed and cringed at the same time. Logan laughed back from his seat at the kitchen table.
Mom and Kyle had been married for exactly two weeks and the delay was almost sure to be caused from their insistence on acting disgusting newlywed pretty much twenty-four hours a day. It was sweet, but yuck!! It was bad enough that Mom was nearly eight months pregnant. At age seventeen, the concept your mother had done something to get herself pregnant was, well, disturbing.
Mom and Kyle had decided to make Mapleton their primary home. Soon a big house on the outskirts of town would be finished, complete with a baby’s suite to house our new bundle of joy. Mom was driving us all crazy with decorating ideas, but since was so happy, none of us really minded.
Soon, though, I’d be moving out and heading to college in Los Angeles where I could be close to Logan. I’d miss Mom, Kyle, and my soon to be born baby sister, but there were priorities. Besides, plenty of airplanes flew between Los Angeles and Minnesota, so Logan and I could visit often.
“I could show you what I suspect if you’d like,” Logan leered. He stood up from the kitchen chair and started to advance towards me. I giggled as I backed away and ran around the counter to avoid his grasping arms.
“Oh, no you don’t. Johan will kill you if you mess my hair up,” I threatened. Johan, who had flown in especially for the night, had directed the team of stylists who’d prepared me for the premier. The hair, makeup, and dress were all perfect. If something, or somebody, messed it up now, Johan would absolutely fall apart.
“You didn’t need a team of stylists, Kate. You’re beautiful without any help,” I let him catch me as he came around the counter. How could I resist when he put it that way?
“Mmmmm, Logan, you’ll be wearing my lipstick if you’re not careful,” I murmured. Not that I was really thinking of lipstick or designer gowns or angry Houstonian hair stylists at the moment. Logan’s lips tended to make me forget most everything.
“Ask me if I care,” he suggested as his lips moved down the side of my neck.
Melanie’s giggles interrupted Logan’s exploration of the skin underneath the beautiful diamond necklace I’d borrowed for the occasion.
“Hello, Melanie,” Logan muttered without looking up. He growled in mock frustration when I stepped back.
Melanie was the second reason I’d flown in Johan. It’d been fun to watch her enjoy the day. A haircut, color, makeup application, and designer gown later, she was ready for the premier and a stunned Erik who gazed at the vision she was as if he’d never seen her before.
“Hello, Logan,” Melanie greeted. She’d stopped stuttering in his presence months ago. It’d taken some time, but she’d eventually accepted he was a normal guy – just one that happened to be loved and adored by most women between the ages of eight and 101. “I suppose this is what I have to look forward to next year as your housemate at UCLA, right Melanie?”
“Absolutely,” I confirmed.
She giggled again, looking up into Erik’s eyes adoringly. “Erik and I will try to be a little more circumspect, right babe?”
Erik just nodded, apparently still at a loss for words.
It’d taken a lot of negotiations, but both the Carlsons and Larsons had agreed to allow their children follow me out to California in the fall. It helped that Mom and Kyle vowed to have their numerous friends keep an eye on us. What didn’t need to be pointed out was that the media would instantly alert the parental units to any problems.
It wasn’t like I just a normal college freshman. I was the daughter of two of the most famous movie stars ever, and I was the girlfriend of a third. To say I was watched closely was a bit of an understatement.
“Good. You’re all here,” Mom said as she waddled into the kitchen looking more beautiful than any woman should be allowed to look. Even with, or perhaps because of, the large beach ball sized bump preceding her into the kitchen, she glowed. Kyle (or Dad as I now called both him and the one who raised me) never let his eyes leave her. Overpowering bliss radiated from the two of them. If I hadn’t been so happy myself, it would have almost hurt to watch them together.
“Let’s go, kids. If we leave right now, we should be able to make it to your Dad’s and into Mankato before your mom needs to eat again,” he teased. Mom just stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed a package of crackers from the cabinet.
The laughing and teasing continued as we drove to Dad’s house, picking up Susan and him before completing the short drive to Mankato. I didn’t speak during the drive. I was enjoying watching my family too much.
“You okay, Kate,” Logan whispered in my ear as we pulled to the front of the movie theatre entrance tothe mall. A long red carpet had been placed between the curb and the entrance to the actual theatre showing the film. As planned, we were the last guests to arrive. Light’s flashed brightly and a cheer rose from the crowd as the car stopped.
“I’m fine, Logan,” I replied. “I’m just so happy. I love you so much. I have the best parents in the world. I have the most amazing friends. And I have you. I’m not sure how I got so lucky.”
“We’re the lucky ones, Kate. You brought us all together. You’re the glue that binds us.”
He could be right; I thought as I stepped out of the car holding his hand while I waved to the crowd and followed those I loved best into the theatre. These people, my family, were everything to me, and through the adversity of the past year, we’d been inexplicably drawn together to form a unit stronger than the one that was there before. Maybe it wasn’t luck; maybe it was fortune or fate. Not that it mattered.
Much to the delight of the crowd, I stopped to pull Logan close in the middle of the red carpet. “Whoever got lucky, Logan, I’m glad to be me. Now, come on, it’s time for America’s sweethearts to go see a movie.”Laughter and cheers could be heard from the crowd as our lips met. Nope, I decided. It was luck. And I was definitely the luckiest girl in the world.

© 2008-2009 Elizabeth Johnson