Epilogue
GAGE
Two Years Later
“Uhg. I think I look ugly. I look so gross. He’s going to take one look at me and be like ew. I can’t marry that.”
“Jesus Christ, come here.” Lucas dragged Gage over and ran his fingertips over the front of his suit, then his collar, then delicately over his perfectly coiffed hair. “You look fine.”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” Gage snapped.
“No, but I also know that Fallon is grossly obsessed with you. It’s sickening, really. I want to ban him from the house because every time he comes over, all he talks about is how amazing you are.”
Gage softened. “You fucking love that for me.”
Lucas laughed and grabbed him by the back of the neck, knocking their foreheads together. “Yeah. I do. You caught me.”
“I just don’t want to let him down. This feels real, you know? Like…it’s official.”
Lucas snorted as he backed up. “You two live together. You bought a house. You made a baby. I don’t think a marriage certificate is going to make it more real than that. You can burn that. You can’t burn a baby.”
“I mean, technically—”
“Dude. Do not. Your dad’s probably listening somewhere.”
Gage scoffed. “No. He’s downstairs somewhere, sneaking Zoa cake after I told her no cake until after dinner.”
Lucas laughed, but he had no room to judge, considering he also gave her anything and everything she asked for. He was definitely her favorite uncle, though no one was willing to say that aloud because they didn’t want to hurt Fenton’s or Frankie’s feelings about it.
“Just tell me I look pretty so I can get on with my day,” Gage said, sighing at himself in the mirror.
He did clean up nicely. He didn’t look much older, though he didn’t expect to.
His hair was clipped shorter now, and it matched Zoa’s, now that hers was longer and had adopted his same wave pattern.
Fallon hadn’t changed much either. He’d healed up from his surgery nicely with a thin scar along his lower stomach.
His pecs didn’t swell after the birth, which meant he didn’t need to worry about that, and he only had a couple of stretch marks on his thighs, which went along with the older ones he’d gotten when he hit his first growth spurt in elementary school.
Zoa had changed everything and nothing about them. She had them running after her nonstop because she was definitely a mix of their best and worst traits, and in spite of the exhaustion, Gage wouldn’t change it for the world.
Marriage had come up only after Charlie appeared a few months after she was born, demanding a paternity retest. The courts denied him, but he harassed Gage so often at work, Gage got a protective order against him that included Zoa.
Charlie was arrested for violating it twice, and Gage was feeling frustrated because he expected the fucker to give up by now.
They hadn’t heard from Charlie in a while though, which was a plus.
“I think it’s time to go,” Lucas said, fingers touching his watch. “Are you ready?”
Gage sighed. “Yeah. I am.” They’d planned the wedding meticulously. Just family and a few friends, in the middle of the day, because they weren’t going to send a fussy Zoa home with Frankie and Lucas, or Adele and Kash.
And Fallon liked when things were routine, which meant he wanted to be in bed by nine, even if they didn’t have to wrangle a toddler through bath time and seventeen stories before she dropped off.
It helped that Gage didn’t do a big proposal thing. Fallon had been the one to bring up marriage, and Gage told him he wanted nothing more. So they bought each other rings and planned it all together, and pretty soon, they would be declared husbands.
“I think,” Gage started, but Lucas’s phone began to ring, and he answered it before the screen could speak out whoever was calling.
“Yeah. Uh-huh.” Lucas cleared his throat, and his tone went a little dark. “Yeah, meet me in the lobby.” He hung up.
“Uh, bro?”
“I have to take care of a quick thing. Go meet Fallon downstairs, and I’ll be right in.”
Gage didn’t ask. He didn’t have the mental capacity to take on one more crisis, so he snagged Lucas’s cane from the wall and pressed it into his friend’s hand. “Don’t be fucking late to my wedding ceremony.”
“I will do as the lord intends,” Lucas said solemnly.
“You’re a jackass.”
“Good thing you love jackasses,” Lucas replied, then hugged Gage before heading out in front of him, making his way down the hall.
Gage took a few more seconds to himself, but Lucas was right. This didn’t feel heavy. There was no weight to the marriage. It was as light as a piece of paper because Fallon had been his the moment Gage set eyes on him in the hallway right before knocking Charlie on his ass.
This was just a formality.
He adjusted his collar, then headed down the hall, taking the steps two at a time to reach the ground floor, where Fallon was waiting. He was by himself, stimming close to his body, when he saw Gage and immediately stopped.
His eyes widened and his chin wobbled, and when he swallowed heavily, Gage heard it click in his throat. “You, uh…you look…”
Gage didn’t make him suffer trying to find the words. Instead, he walked over and yanked him close, kissing him slow and deep, and full of purpose. “You look amazing,” he murmured when he pulled away.
Fallon grinned. “You do too,” he whispered, then went silent and cocked his head to the side. “ I think we should go in.”
Gage realized the music was already playing. He peered into the room and saw that Zoa was in Adele’s arms, her flower petals thrown on the pathway, but Lucas and Fenton were nowhere to be found.
Gage wasn’t going to make the love of his life wait any longer to be his husband though. “Let’s go.”
Fallon didn’t seem to notice who was missing. He threaded his arm through Gage’s, and the music picked up, and then they started to walk.
The ceremony was short and sweet. No long vows, no frills, no fuss. Just a quiet, simple speech and a promise to love each other for eternity. It was just before the I Dos that Fenton and Lucas appeared, sneaking into the back and creeping up toward the front since they were going to be witnesses.
Frankie looked pissed, but there was something in his expression that told Gage a near disaster had been averted, so he considered it a win. The kiss was right after that, so Gage forgot all about them until they were in the reception hall and he noticed that Lucas’s knuckles were red.
“I’m going to ask you this very nicely, and I want the truth,” Gage said, and the small group of chatting people went quiet. “What happened before the ceremony?”
Lucas let out a sigh as Fenton squeezed his arm in support. “There was an incident in the parking lot.”
Frankie’s eyes narrowed, and that was when Gage realized he’d known what was going on too. It seemed he and Fallon were the only ones left out.
“Someone better give me details,” Gage warned.
Lucas groaned. “Fine. But just so you know, it’s handled.” He waited a beat, then said, “Charlie showed up.”
Fallon went stiff. “What?”
“We had security on alert. Fen and I met him in the parking lot and made sure he won’t come back.”
Frankie groaned. “What exactly did you do?”
“I grabbed him by the balls,” Lucas said. “Fen helped me make sure I didn’t miss. I gave them a nice warning squeeze and told him he wouldn’t get the chance to even attempt another procreation if we ever caught him lurking around here again.”
“And then Lucas punched him in the face,” Fenton said happily.
Frankie slapped a hand over his face. “Seriously?” He turned to Adele. “I swear I didn’t encourage this.”
Adele shifted a sleeping Zoa to his other shoulder and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t judge you for that.”
“Of course he won’t,” Bowen said, like he’d been waiting to pop up. He had Lane on his arm. “When Lane’s ex came sniffing around, trying to get her hands on the daughter she abandoned, Adele threatened to fuck her husband.”
Gage buried his face in Fallon’s hair. He didn’t want to hear this.
Frankie sucked in a breath. “You didn’t.”
“Oh, I did. And I meant it,” Adele said happily. Zoa started to fuss, and he bounced her back to sleep as he went on. “Told her she could stick around if she wanted, but that if she did, I was gonna fuck her husband. She never showed up again.”
Lucas grinned. “I knew you were my favorite.”
“Excuse you,” Frankie said.
“That I don’t want to have sex with,” Lucas added.
“That’s it. I’m done. We’re moving to the Bahamas. See you all never.” Gage started to walk away, but Fallon pulled him back.
“I like it here,” he murmured as Gage dipped in to kiss him.
Gage breathed out a sigh and pressed his forehead to Fallon’s.
Off in the distance, he could hear all of his family talking.
All of them were happy. Kids were dancing and playing, adults were exchanging quiet kisses and conversation about their own happiest moments, and Gage realized that he was more than content.
“I guess it’s fine. As long as you never tell that story in my presence again,” he told his dad.
Adele walked over and carefully slipped Zoa into his arms, then kissed his forehead. “Done. Now, I’m gonna go dance with my husband before I have to take Mango home and you two head off on your honeymoon.”
Gage felt comfort at the weight of his daughter in his arms. She snuffled, then blinked up at him. “Dada.”
He smiled at her, and she smiled back. Her eyes were his too. Her nose was Fallon’s, her mouth a sort of mix of them both. “Hi, sleepy.”
“Wannn Papa.”
Fallon was at her side, taking her into his arms. She nestled her face into his neck and went back to sleep. Gage leaned over and kissed him. It was going to be a long week without her, but it was just one week.
And after that, they had the rest of their lives.