Being Happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you have decided to look beyond the imperfections.

Anonymous

3 months later:

"I swear, you are insane!" Daphne exclaimed when the icy cold water was just reaching her ankle.

Why exactly had she thought that was a good idea?

Because Luke had been excited like a puppy about the idea of going to the beach and having the first swim of the season and even Grace and Kiana had agreed with that excitement.

Daphne had let herself be pulled along with their enthusiasm and now she was seriously regretting her life choices.

The sun was maybe shining and for Fairbury, it was actually surprisingly warm, but the ocean was still icy.

"Come on, Daphne, it's not that bad!" Ollie exclaimed loudly from where he and Luke were roughhousing in the deeper water, an undignified squeak coming from him when Luke dunked him under moments later.

Grace laughed at her mate and Kiana splashed at him with water.

"It's icy!" She shouted back, backing away so that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire of Kiana and Oliver behaving like 5-year-olds.

"Oh no, Sweetheart, you are getting in that water," Luke threatened her with a laugh and playfully grabbed after her.

She tried to get away from him, unable to stop laughing when he shook his head like an overgrown dog, droplets landing all over her and then hefted her up over his shoulder.

"No, Luke!" She squealed in protest but that didn't help her either as he unceremoniously dumped her into the deeper water.

She came up sputtering for breath and rounded onto her mate, who looked far to pleased with himself. "I hate you!" She glowered at Luke, who looked at her unapologetically, still laughing.

"You know I would take you more seriously when you didn't have seaweed stuck on your head," he told her laughingly.

SEAWEED?!?

He got said seaweed thrown against his chest, something that just resulted in the rest of their group cracking up as she splashed water at him.

Luke just reached out for her, pulling her close to him and kissing her, something that always managed to make her forget whatever else she had been doing beforehand.

She leaned into his touch, but still reached out to poke into his ribs when he let her go.

"I haven't forgotten yet," she told him with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I know. But you aren't telling me the water is icy anymore," Luke teased her.

He was right. It wasn't even that bad anymore.

"Come on, we'll try to teach you how to swim," Kiana suggested. "And then you can dunk Luke underwater and exact your revenge."

They did teach her how to swim, or at least tried to. Daphne probably would need a lot more instruction before she was even half as good as the rest of them, but she trusted herself not to drown anymore, even when she flailed around mindlessly once and landed a hit into Luke's stomach.

They made a bonfire afterwards, Daphne having pulled on one of Luke's sweaters after their swim and now reclining back against him, sitting between his legs and relaxing against his broad chest.

The sun was slowly setting over the ocean, painting the sky in all colours of pink and purple.

It was a beautiful sight. She fumbled in her pocket for her phone, making a photo of it, mostly because she wanted to paint it the next day.

"Inspiration for the next book?" Luke asked her amused and she snorted in amusement.

"Maybe," she admitted with a sigh. "Leda called me about it a few days ago. Whenever I am ready but they were hoping for early next year."

The Adventures of Princess Plumella and Buttercup had been published a month ago and to the surprise of Daphne...it had done surprisingly well.

"You wrote a New York Times Bestseller. It makes sense that they want a Sequel," Luke gave back drily, pride obvious in his voice.

She couldn't help against the warmth that pooled in her belly at that when she felt his arms tighten around her a bit more and a kiss being pressed against her mating bite.

"Will you ever call him?" Luke asked her softly.

There was no question about who Luke was talking about.

"I...I am thinking about it," Daphne admitted. "I...Is that okay?"

She had no idea how she should deal with it. She had made her decision for her pack without a second pack but she didn't know how all of that would fit together with her father being the Alpha of New York.

"He's your father. You have the opportunity to get to know him. You should take it," Luke answered calmly. "I am never going to keep you apart from him."

His tone of voice added the " other than he tried to do to us" .

She could try though, couldn't she? If it didn't work...she could go back to ignoring everything about the man that had given her half her DNA.

Daphne leaned back against Luke, staring at the flickering flames of the bonfire, hearing the quiet conversation of Grace and Ollie, who were getting stuff ready to make hotdogs and s'mores.

She made her decision then.

Tomorrow she would call her father. Tomorrow she would figure out what to do with that relationship.

Tomorrow Grace, Kiana and Daphne would go shopping for Junior Prom Dresses. Tomorrow she would paint her nails bright bubblegum pink and chat with Olivia during Lunch, laughing about whatever jokes Jason told her.

Tomorrow she would tease Oliver during breakfast and go for a run with Luke before school even started.

Tomorrow she would enjoy life in Fairbury with everything she had.

But Today...Today she would look over the ocean, breathe in the ocean breeze and think about how thankful she was. She would hold Lukes's hand and trace that scar on his pinky that he had since his 8th birthday and an accident involving his monster truck toy. Today she would enjoy the feeling of the sun on her skin and Luke's fingers stroking over the palm of her hand.

Today she would eat hotdogs and s'mores at that bonfire surrounded by the family she had chosen.

Today she would be happy.

The End