Epilogue
ADDIE - THIRTEEN MONTHS LATER
There was glitter on the floor.
How, no one knew. Clara and Jesse weren’t exactly a ‘glitter’ couple, and none had been present at the wedding or the reception.
A reception that, like the engagement party, was taking place at Vivi’s.
Mostly because there was a whole area that no one was allowed to enter, so we could get away from all the other guests.
The kitchen.
Which made the glitter even more confusing, but that was a future problem.
Right now, we were waiting for Eli to finish frying some chips so we could add them to the spread of food we had snuck in from the dining area.
A platter of roast chicken thighs, some cornbread, a bunch of quiches and a whole plate of wedding cake were waiting to be decimated by the eight of us.
The wedding bouquet I had caught was discarded on one of the counters, its presence making itself known no matter where my eyes settled in the room.
Catching the bouquet was not on my list of things to do today. But Rachel had dragged me onto the floor when word went around that Clo was getting ready to throw it, and to avoid getting hit in the face, I caught it.
My sister had impeccable aim. There is no way it being hurled at my face was an accident.
Since I caught it, being at the reception was becoming unbearable.
Guests kept coming up to me to make unhinged comments about my love life.
The final straw was some random second cousin sidling up to me just to tell me that I could do better than the man I had been with for over a year, who consistently made my life better.
I had to leave before I did something terrible, like hit a guest, so I left for the kitchen.
Then everyone else followed.
“I’ve got chips!” Eli called out as he came over to where we were picking at the food.
There was a scramble for the chips that I left them to, sinking back into Eli as he settled in behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“It’s following me,” I mumbled.
“What is?”
I pointed at the bouquet.
He huffed a laugh into the crook of my neck. “I don’t think the dying flowers are following you, Dove.”
“Then why can I see them wherever I look?”
“Because this isn’t that big a space, and you left them there?”
I pinched the back of his hand. “One of these days, you aren’t going to apply logic to the things I say and just go along with it.”
He pressed a kiss to my tattoo. “Why is the bouquet bothering you?”
“Because of what they are supposed to mean. And Clo knew exactly what she was doing when she threw them at me.”
He hummed quietly. “It doesn’t have to be. You know that, right?”
There was something about the way he said that made my ears perk up.
“She threw them at me on purpose, didn’t she? Oh my gosh, she’s got a secret in the vault, doesn’t she?”
I could feel Eli smiling against me. I also hadn’t been as quiet as I would have liked, so everyone was looking at us.
“I gave you strict instructions, Eli,” Clara warned, her finger wagging at him.
Eli pulled his head back and looked at her. “I haven’t done anything,” he protested.
“What instructions?” I asked.
“In his defence, babe, you threw those flowers at her with sniper-like precision,” Jesse said, pulling his wife closer to him.
“Hello, someone tell me what is up,” I tried again.
“I am under strict instructions to not propose to you today because, as Clo likes to remind me, it is her wedding day.”
I looked at Rachel, my eyes hopefully stern, but probably not. “You must know as well, then, given that you had a mission to get me into that bouquet-catching crowd?”
Rachel nodded. “We all know. Including you now.”
I turned around in Eli’s hold.
“You’re going to propose?”
“Well, not right now—”
“Oh, I don’t care now. She knows, so you might as well ask,” Clara cut in. She didn’t sound annoyed; if anything, she sounded excited.
“Wait, you have the ring on you?”
Eli reached into his trousers pocket and pulled something out.
It was a ring. One that I recognised well. It was the best ring Mum had. A braided gold band with a stone in it that looked like the ocean. Neither blue nor green, but always perfect.
It was a ring that had been on my mother’s hand this morning. I’d seen it. I’d made a joke about how it would only be fair if I got my favourite ring of hers because Clara got her favourite when Jesse proposed. She’d laughed.
And then she disappeared for about ten minutes before coming back with prosecco.
“What the fuck is that?” I whispered.
“Yours?”
The kitchen had gone silent.
“When did you get this?” To Eli’s credit, he just smiled at my question.
“I may have mentioned last week that I wanted to propose to you, and both of your parents gave their blessing. Then this morning, I was summoned to the bridal suite, where Clara and your mum were, and she told me to take good care of this ring. That was also when Clara told me that I couldn’t propose today.
Which I feel she ruined by directly launching a bouquet of carnations at your face. ”
“Her bouquet was roses. Bridesmaids had carnations,” I said dumbly, my eyes still on my favourite ring in the entire world in the hands of one of my favourite people.
“Right, roses that she launched at you, therefore raising your suspicions. I had no intention of bringing this up today. I was going to ask you tomorrow in a much more fun way.”
I heard Lucy make a gagging noise over my shoulder. I ignored her and lifted my gaze from the ring to Eli’s face.
“So you’re asking right now, then?”
Eli nodded. “I’m asking, Ads.”
“Alright then, well, you may need to ask the question so I can give an answer,” I teased.
The smile that broke out on Eli’s face was the brightest I had ever seen.
“Will you marry me, Adrienne?”
THE END