Epilogue Eight Months Later
R ose
Even though PJ and Sam had delayed their wedding until the following year, her announcement of intent to have me make her gowns spurred several heavy hitters in the bridal fashion industry to offer me my own lines. I went with Adèle Allais because Adèle herself offered to mentor me to start my own company.
But despite having less time on my hands than ever before, it’d taken me shockingly little time to design my own wedding dress, a corseted blush-champagne gown with draped, off-the-shoulder French silk tulle sleeves and vertical ruffles of tulle over an A-line lace skirt.
And even though these days I had a staff of talented seamstresses to sew everything for me—for which I was still pinching myself—my hands alone were on this dress from start to finish.
At the moment, Jason’s hands alone were on this dress, but neither of us would get to finish until we said goodbye to our wedding guests and took the limo home where we had only a few hours to fill with bliss before we had to catch our plane to Paris. We’d already second-lined and cut the cake and done all the things, but we had one more reception responsibility for the night: the bouquet toss.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” the singer of our wedding band asked on the microphone from his place at the head of the Peristyle in New Orleans’s City Park.
“Not mine,” my husband murmured into my ear where we were making out not far from the band. He squeezed my ass and murmured in my ear. “My wife gets all my attention.”
I giggled and murmured back, “My husband is gonna fuck me so good tonight.”
His groan went right to my core as the singer boomed, “Time for the bouquet toss! Let’s get all the single people on the dance floor!”
Jason reluctantly let me go to the head of the crowd of our guests currently making a mosh pit waiting for me to throw, and Heather approached me, handing me my bouquet.
“I already untied the handkerchief from it and delivered it safely to Becca.” She stepped back toward the singer, on the opposite side from the growing crowd of would-be bouquet catchers on the dance floor, which included Abby and Lily.
The singer, who Heather had been flirting with all night, leaned into his microphone. “Aren’t you going to participate, brown eyes?”
She put her hand up and stayed where she was. “ Unh-unh . Not about it.”
I winked at her and nodded to the singer.
“Everybody ready?” he called out. “One…two…three!”
I threw the bouquet back up over my head—too high. It hit the concrete rafters of the Peristyle and bounced back, spitting a shower of rose petals on me as it headed directly to Heather.
Heather threw her hands up reflexively to protect her face, and she caught the bouquet upside-down. “What? Noooo!” she lamented. “That wasn’t supposed to happen!”
The singer’s chuckle echoed through the air as I hugged her.
“Sorry, babe! I swear I wasn’t trying to hit you with it!”
She shrugged. “It’s a silly tradition anyway that means absolutely nothing.”
Heather took a few pictures with me and the bouquet, then Jason grabbed my hand and the mic. He offered it to me first, but I shook my head and pushed it back to him.
“We want to thank everyone for coming out and celebrating us tonight. Thank you to our parents, who all contributed to throwing this amazing party for me and Rose.” He grinned. “Me and my wife .” He kissed me quickly. “Thanks to our wedding party, round of applause to our kickass band, Two of Hearts.” The crowd went wild because the band had rocked it. “And…Rose, anything you’d like to add?” He held the mic to me.
“Thanks everybody! But we gotta go! Our time’s up in the Peristyle, and we have a marriage to consummate!”
During the laughter and applause, Jason scooped me up bodyguard-style. I squealed as he walked me through the edge of the crowds lining up and set me on my feet so we could walk through the line of family and well-wishers sending us on our way.
When the door closed and our limo drove us away, we were already hot and heavy in the back. I twisted the ring on Jason’s finger, waiting for my new favorite thing to happen. His face lit up in the middle of kissing me, his dark brown eyes full of love. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“This dress is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever made,” Jason murmured, slipping his hand up the skirt as he laid me beneath him. “But right now, I just want to taste what’s underneath it.”
“Truth or dare?” I asked him.
His face lit up. “Truth.”
“What was your favorite part of today?”
He kissed me sweetly, then looked deeply into my eyes. “Every minute. When you first appeared at the end of the aisle in this perfect dress, looking like my best dream come to life. When you walked toward me, and I knew today was really happening. When you said, ‘I do,’ and made me the luckiest man in the world. Right now, making out with my wife on our way to our future together.” Jason’s arm was around me, his hand cupping my face, his forehead pressed to mine. “I can’t believe I get to call you my wife. I love you so much.”
His big brown eyes sparkled down at me, and there was no one else in the world.
I pressed my forehead against his. “I love you too, husband.”