Epilogue
"Love her but leave her wild." – Atticus
Griffin
“ I s it something in the air?” Callum grunts as he falls onto the couch in our break room, his jeans are stained with the shades of purple I picked out and I eye him, questionably, but he ignores me in favor of his moaning.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Luke asks, taking out a bottle of coke from the fridge.
“No, it’s very real. There must be something in the air around Loverly Cave that makes people do stupid shit.”
“Oh, then yes, most definitely.” Luke pops the bottle open. “Who did something stupid this time?”
“Me!” Cal yells, throwing his hands up.
“Did you finish the painting?” I ask, narrowing my eyes, and he throws a matching expression my way.
"Dude! I’m having a crisis over here.”
“Answer the question, then we can talk about your crisis. I’m on a tight schedule over here!”
“Of course, I finished your painting.” He rolls his eyes. “It’d be impossible not to with you as a warden.”
“Good” I nod, ignoring his jab. “Now, back to your crisis. What happened?”
“They got to me.” Callum almost sounds pained while Luke barks out a laugh.
“Oh hell, you agreed, didn’t you?” he asks Cal but it’s a waste of time because the answer is written all over his face.
“Yes,” he grits out, and Luke laughs harder.
“Oh God, this is good.”
“I have no idea what you’re so happy about! And it’s only temporary while they’re looking for someone else.”
Luke is laughing so hard, he’s wiping tears off his eyes and turns to me. “Should we tell him or let him figure it out all on his own?”
I look over my other best friend, pretending to be deep in thought over this. “Nah, throw him to the wolves,” I tell Luke.
“Viscious.” He shakes his head while Cal watches us with a furrowed look.
I shrug. “I’m still holding a grudge for you messing up our perfect day.”
“Dude! I just spent a month helping you renovate that shit hole! And then another week drawing that painting you wanted. You don’t get to hold grudges anymore.” he points at me.
“I’ll take your statement under review,” I tell him. “And congratulations, Mr. New Sheriff of Loverly Cave. May the odds be ever in your favor.”
Callum falls back against the couch with a loud groan as Luke breaks into another fit of uncontrollable laughter.
“Okay, you all have fun. I’m out,” I tell my friends and dip out before I have to take Luke to the hospital because the way Callum is watching the idiot laugh at his expense is, without a doubt, going to end in bloodshed.
I’ve been waiting for this day for far too long to mess it up.
Three months since Julie told me she’s pregnant, but really, a lifetime.
The scavenger hunt I set in motion this morning should keep her busy until she arrives at the final destination, but I still have a few things to finish up at the house.
It was no easy task to keep this a secret from the woman who can read my mind like it belongs to her, but I think I’ve done it.
Mostly by avoiding her questions with sex.
Yep, I’m not above using orgasms to cover up my plans, and Julie’s been all too willing to go along these past few weeks.
Her nausea finally subsided a month ago when we hit that eleven-week mark but a whole new side of her opened up and it’s called insatiable.
I’m low-key considering how many times I can get away with getting her pregnant.
It’s not just for all the sex. Julie looks so beautiful. Radiant. Glowing. Every day more so than the one before. She’s not even showing that much yet, just a tiny little bumpy and I’m already obsessed.
Yeah, baby number two will be coming right up after our first is born. I’m telling you.
But for now?
I need to make sure my girl says, Yes .
Julie
Go back to the place that holds all the magic.
I read the last note again, giddy excitement swirling in my stomach.
As if the man wasn’t perfect enough, Griff created a random scavenger hunt for me while I’m waiting for him to get off his shift.
Well, this is easy enough for me. It’s my coffee shop. I consider it magical ever since it was Mrs. Lovzel’s fabric store, I’m just surprised Griffin remembers. Which I shouldn’t be, really, not when he knows me better than I know myself.
In the past three months, he’s kept surprising me more and more. From coming to garden with me to helping me sew the tiny beads onto my new skirts.
Seriously, could the man get any more perfect?
Smiling so wide it hurts, I go through all the rest of the stations. From my shop to LP’s bar—the booth where we had our blind date—to the beach where Hope is waiting for me with next directions.
Soon enough, I figure out he’s taking me through every memorable spot. Through the places we shared together. Griffin even managed to hide a message in a packet of cosmos seeds in Fifi’s store.
But this place doesn’t look familiar. I mean, I knew who’s house it was, I just wasn’t sure why did Griffin bring me to Mrs. Lovel’s old home.
After she died, her son decided to hold onto the real estate.
None of us understood why, since he hasn’t stepped foot into Loverly since graduating himself, but he did.
Maybe he was sentimental? And many envied him for it because it was one of the best parcels of land out here.
The hills aren’t too steep, but you also aren’t right in the middle of the downtown area.
And the land! It has acres and acres of beautiful land that butts up to the forest. Unfortunately he didn’t take care of it, and the house started falling apart years ago.
The locals did the best they could to keep the gardens clear of overgrown weeds, but there isn’t much we could do about the house itself.
Only, as I come up to the short, funky, farm-style fence, it doesn’t look like it’s halfway into the grave. No, the logs used for it look almost brand new and the colorful wildflowers spilling from the other side of it, neat and taken care of.
Huh…
But my musings get cut off when my gaze lifts to the house itself. It’s a bit farther from the fence, so I didn’t pay attention to it right away but…it’s restored!
Restored—not taken down and rebuilt from ground up. Restored with all of its original charm I love, intact. I’m so busy gawking at the cleaned up crawling roses on the sides of the house that I almost miss the small piece of paper stuck to the front of the gate.
Congratulations, you’ve come to your final destination. Are you ready to take the next step? The note says, and I suck in a sharp breath, looking from the note to the beautiful, country-style home in front of me, then back to the note again.
What has he done…
With trembling hands and a million butterflies in my stomach, I push the gate open and follow the narrow, stone-laid pathway to the house. My eyes not knowing where to look first.
To the gorgeous brand-new planter boxes set out all over, to the beautiful landscape with the drying strings set up on the side, or to the house itself.
It’s stone-faced beige but the shutters…
oh, sweet daisies…the shutters and the door are all colorful.
From bright pink to yellow to green and turquoise.
It’s absolutely stunning.
My feet just take the step onto the small front porch when the yellow front door opens up and there he is.
Griffin. Barefoot. Leaning against it.
“Hi, Birdy,” he greets me sweetly, but I can’t close my mouth long enough to form a response. “Do you like it?”
“Griff…what…what’s going on?” I gape at his grinning face.
“Welcome home, Birdy.”
“H-home?” My eyes widen. “What do you mean, home?”
“Just that. This is our home, or at least I hope it will be, if you don’t mind.”
“Don’t mind… don’t mind? H-how? When? GRIFFIN !” I screech, barely able to keep my breaths under control.
“What’s wrong? Do you hate it?” Instantly, he’s there, cradling my face.
“Are you insane? This is my absolute dream…” I sniffle. “I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah?” A huge grin breaks over his face. “You like it?”
“Understatement of the century,” I breathe out. “I just don’t understand how you pulled it off.”
“I’ll tell you everything later.” He kisses my forehead.
“There’s just one more thing I want to show you.
” Griffin takes my hand, leading me inside the house.
“I didn’t touch anything in here, because I knew you’d want to work on it together.
” He gestures to the pretty much unchanged home I used to know, and I nod eagerly.
Oh, sweet daisies…this is our home! Ours!
“I only played with one room and I hope you don’t mind.” Griffin sounds nervous all of a sudden, but I have no idea why.
Until we reach a light green door.
“Griffin…” I breathe out, the sound barely a whisper when I open it and find myself standing in the most perfect and magical room.
Fitted with a handmade crib, a beautiful wooden rocking chair with lilac-colored knit blankets and the rest of the baby necessities that take my breath away but none more than the mural on the main wall.
The one in so many different shades of purple, the field of lavender looks almost real. Like I could come up and touch the tiny purple flowers.
“Griffin,” I breath out again and feel his arms circle me from behind, his palms splayed over my tiny bump as his chin rests on my shoulder.
“Callum drew it. For our Lavender girl. What do you think, Birdy?” he asks and tears spring free from my eyes.
“Griffin…C-Callum?” I cry even harder. My brother picked up the brush for the first time in years for our baby. “W-we don’t even know if it’s a girl…”
“It’s a girl. I consulted with Jenny and Jacob on this.” That gets a teary laugh out of me. “But if it’s a boy, he’ll rock the name Lavender too.”
I laugh again, turning in his arms to gaze at his face.
“I don’t even know what to say.” I cradle his jaw, getting on my tippy toes to kiss him. “This—this is more than my dream.”
“I’ll probably mess up a lot. But I also made a list of promises.”
“Shh.” I stop him, placing my finger to his lips. “We don’t need any promises, Griff. We just want you.”
Griffin’s body shudders as he releases a breath he must’ve been holding for a while.
“I love you. So damn much. My whole life I thought a fist to the face was the best way to bring someone to their knees, but I was wrong because you knocked my heart out with just one smile and two bare feet.” He kisses me softly.
“Marry me, Birdy?” he murmurs against my lips.
“Every day. Yesterday, today, and every tomorrow from now until the end.”
THE END!