A Continuous Journey: Epilogue



Joanie poured herself a cup of coffee as she went through the mail. "Bill, bill, bill..." she momentarily stopped when she spotted a larger envelope.

It was from city hall. Her hands where shaking as she opened the envelope, fully knowing what was inside. The moment she read that her divorce was final, that she no longer was Joanie Arcola, but instead Joanie Cunningham. It was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders; a sense of possibility flooded her. A mesmerizing smile played on her lips.

She felt amazingly giddy, as if the world was hers for the taking. For the first time probably ever she realized that she could do anything she put her mind to. That she, like everyone else, had the right to be happy.

Joanie immediately slipped the letter into the pocket of her robe as she dashed upstairs to get dress. If she hurried she could catch Fonzie before he left for work.



Fonzie rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he felt exhausted. Last night had been a long night, he and shortcake had stayed up watching an old Marlin Brandon movie and he loved every minute of it. Perhaps for the first time in his life he felt complete, as if everything in his life had been leading up to this.

The only way he could put it was that his life was a connect-the-dots puzzle, his favorite. That slowly he had been connecting every single dot and that Joanie was the last and final dot. Now that he had her he was finally complete.

A loud knock on the door almost made him fall out of the bed, knocking him right out of his stupor. He steadily made his way to the door, not fully awake yet.

"I'm coming," he said as he unlocked the door.

A beaming Joanie stood at the other end of the door. Fonzie couldn't help but smiling back at her, her mirth becoming instantly contagious. She immediately threw herself into his arms; he almost fell back but managed to keep them both afoot.

"What's the matter shortcake?" he inquired in a puzzled tone.

She proudly held up the letter for his inspection. With arm still around her he read the letter closely, a broad smile on his face once he realized what it meant. Joanie was a free woman now, which meant that they were now legally allowed to be together. She plucked the letter from his hands and put her arms around his neck as she leaned in. They met halfway and shared a feverish kiss, fully loosing themselves in each other.

Things definitely seemed to be looking up for both of them. Having finally found that other individual that made their hearts go pitter-pat. Of course, one would be foolish to think that from this moment on everything would be rosy. Far from it, but they wouldn't be bad all the time either. Life, as well as everything else, was bitter sweet. Fill with the ups and the downs that made life what it is; a continuous journey.