"I love you too," she whispered before kissing him again and again.
It took a year to get married, and another to get pregnant, but by six years later, Alcott and Michaela Northwind were the proud parents of two children, James Everett Tyler Northwind, aged three, and his two year old sister, Amelia Rose Northwind. The tiny brunette was the apple of her father's eye, and with a bat of her pretty green eyes, her daddy would fall all over himself trying to give her what she wanted, all while still mumbling grumpily. Her big brother, who looked just like his daddy, was Mommy's Little Helper, and competed relentlessly with Alcott for Michaela's coveted attention.
By fifteen years after that, Alcott and Michaela Northwind were the proud parents of ten children, and Michaela was already pregnant with her second pair of twins (the doctors were amazed at her fertility, but based on the nightly activities of the couple, it was no surprise to Michaela). Alcott was genuinely happy, although with a sixteen year old Amelia, and four other girls, the youngest being only two, it made sense that he not only became very proficient with a gun, but also spent a lot of time making sure his girls knew they were protected. Michaela, of course, thought this was all incredibly hilarious, and usually ended up dragging him to the office for "adult conversation" when their daughters went out.
Bonita had moved back around James' tenth birthday, and helped to take care of the kids at every moment. She adored the little ones, and was revered as a feisty Spanish grandmother.
Uncle Jet came to visit as much as Michaela allowed, which was almost every week. He and his brother still have their differences, but despite everything, were close friends.
Michaela's beautiful doctor friend, the lovely Ericka, eventually came around to the idea of Michaela being married to a man. She herself was caught in an affair with a man soon after James' thirteenth birthday. The man was none other than Henry, who had matured in the days since he took over his father's company. Ericka and he split, however, after Ericka revealed that she was still unused to sex with a man, and wasn't sure she liked it. After that, she went into a relationship with an old friend, and they have since become official life partners and have adopted a beautiful little girl named Selphia, who just so happened to spend a lot of time with Cole Northwind, the fifth child of the Northwinds.
By Michaela and Alcott's fortieth year of marriage, they had sixteen children, each going on to live wonderfully happy lives. James had gone into music, having the looks and talent from his father and mother. He travels all over the world as the "New Elvis", the name James Northwind well-known and loved. He married at the age of thirty and has two wonderful children of his own. Amelia went on to become an astrophysicist, using the brains she had inherited from her mother and the charm from her father to get farther in life. She now is head chairwoman of the physics department at NASA. Amelia also married, and has three children that she adores. The one to take over the Bloodwell family company was none over than Elsie Northwind, the ninth child. At the age of twenty, she went to business school, and took over not long agree her twenty-sixth birthday. She is engaged to a delightful man, and has one daughter. Her one successor is the youngest child, Jet Northwind II, named for his late uncle who died tragically during an assassination attempt on his fiancé, the fiery Princess Marisol of Spain. The princess, called Mari by close friends, was accepted into the family, and is always present during family gatherings. The Northwinds, in turn, are revered as an extension of the Spanish Royal Family, and are treated as such each time they enter Spain. Young Jet is only sixteen, but is much like his namesake, and is ready to take on the company, which was connected to Northwind Co. not long before Jet's untimely death. He is the last child to be born to Michaela and Alcott.
After nearly fifty-five years of marriage, Michaela died tragically of lung cancer. She spent her last days in the arms of the man she loved, the ninety-one year old Alcott. The old man, who was still capable of walking, driving, and even mountain climbing when he wanted, was destroyed. Blaming himself for her death, he died less than a week after her of a broken heart. They were buried together, holding hands in death as they did in life.
Love is a strange thing. You can love the one person you hate, or you can love someone that's not good for you, or you can love someone you shouldn't. But love doesn't care. Once you fall in love, you're stuck, and sometimes, you don't want to ever be unstuck. Alcott and Michaela Northwind loved more than they ever thought they could, even when they both wanted to be rid of the other. Their story is a real love story, one that can stand to be told for years to come, and that their children did tell. They told of the jealous murderous cousin and the depraved rapist mistress. They told of the lesbian doctor and the cruel younger brother of the half-breed. They told of the Spanish nanny and the spoiled wine heir. But most of all, they told about the beautiful half-breed who fell in love with the passionate daughter of his best friends, a love that outshone any it came across, and that spanned over the years, the two loving each other more and more every day. That love will never fade, they would say as they tucked in their children beneath the comforter, for love that strong, and that rare, can't die. It only lives on, and somewhere up in Heaven, they still love each other more and more each passing day.
