Epilogue
EPILOGUE
TWO YEARS LATER
Finn
“Are you ready?” Gem asked me, sticking his head around the door of the hotel bathroom as I adjusted my tie in the enormous mirror over the sink. He grinned and shook his head. “Your tie is crooked.”
“My fingers won’t stop shaking,” I said, giving him a wry smile. “I’m so nervous, and I’m not even the one getting married.”
“Yeah, but you’re giving the bride away, and you have to make a speech. I’d be nervous too.” Gem’s fingers found mine and began gently adjusting the knot of my tie until he was convinced I looked presentable. “There. Very handsome.”
“Thanks.” I leant over and kissed him gently. It was something that always gave me comfort. “What would I do without you?”
“I don’t know.” He grinned. “Be less awesome?”
“Definitely.” I kissed him again, my hand finding his and squeezing it gently. “You know, when this is all over, we should get married.”
“Is that a proposal?” Gem asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No,” I said. When I did propose, I was going to do it properly. Unless Gem got to it first. And now that I’d mentioned it, it was a distinct possibility. Still, I had the whole of today to plan something because I knew Gem wouldn’t do anything today if he wanted to live. You didn’t propose at another person’s wedding, no matter how well you knew them. It just wasn’t done. “It’s more of a casual suggestion for you to think about. When I do ask, you’ll know.”
Gem grinned at me mischievously. “I’ll hold you to that.” He gave me another lingering kiss. “Okay, you better get going! I’ll see you downstairs later.”
“Don’t forget the gift,” I said as I walked out of the bathroom. “It’s still in the suitcase.”
“I won’t forget. You can’t forget something that fucking big.”
I snorted, then patted my jacket pocket to make sure my speech was in there for later and headed out of the room. The hotel’s patterned carpet was plush underfoot, and it only took me a couple of minutes to get upstairs to one of the suites where my charge was waiting. I knocked on the door and heard a flurried cry of voices before it swung open. I grinned as I looked down at the beautiful little girl in front of me, her dark hair threaded with baby blue flowers that matched the ones on her dress.
“Hey, Kelsey. How’s your mum doing?” I asked. Kelsey sighed dramatically. She was seven going on seventeen.
“She’s worrying again. Can you go and tell her to stop because it’s very annoying. She’s supposed to be happy today.”
“Sure, bub. I’ll try.”
“Good. She might listen to you,” Kelsey said. “Also, can I have some cake? Uncle Edward brought us some cupcakes when he brought Mum’s dress over, but apparently I have to ask first.” She did not look impressed by this fact, but at least she had asked rather than just helping herself. Although, when I walked into the suite, I realised the reason Kelsey had asked was because someone, probably Edward, had put the cupcakes on one of the shelves in the little kitchenette, well out of Kelsey’s reach, and all the chairs around the little dining room table were either occupied with fussing bridesmaids or covered in stuff.
“Okay, first let’s get cake,” I said, retrieving the box of lemon and blueberry cupcakes. “Then I’ll help Mum. But you have to promise to go sit down and eat this nicely and not get any on your dress. Do you promise?” I held out one of the cupcakes to Kelsey who stuck out her little finger in return.
“Pinky promise.”
“Done.” I handed her the cake, then walked over to the bridesmaids and put the box on the table.
“Finn? Is that you?”
“It’s me.” I turned to see Chantelle emerging from the bedroom and my mouth dropped open, my breath catching in my throat. Chantelle was always beautiful, but today she looked like a literal princess. The bodice of her dress shimmered as the little sequins sewn into the lace caught the light. The skirt was made of soft pink tulle and seemed to cascade like a waterfall. It couldn’t have been any more perfect if Edward had worked on it for a thousand years. “Wow.”
“Yeah? Do I look okay?” Her hands brushed over the skirt nervously. “It’s not too much.”
“No.” I shook my head. “No, it’s perfect.”
“Thanks.” She smiled and let out a deep breath. “God, why am I so fucking nervous?”
“Mum!”
“Sorry, baby,” Chantelle said, looking over at Kelsey who sat on one of the sofas, eating her cupcake with the tiniest bites possible so she didn’t drop any of it. “Where did she get cake?”
“Edward brought it.”
“Oh, that makes sense. He spoils her.”
“He’s like that. He’s like the kind of gay uncle who’ll never have his own kids but dotes on everyone else’s whether he’s related to them or not.”
“He’s an angel.” Chantelle smiled fondly at her daughter. “How long have we got?”
I looked at my watch. “Registrar will be here in fifteen minutes. Ceremony starts in thirty. Are you ready?”
“Bit late now if I’m not.” I laughed, and Chantelle shook her head. “But, yeah, I am. I can’t believe this is happening. I never thought I’d get something like this… and yet, here we are.”
“Here we are,” I said. “And now you get to be my sister for real.” I closed the gap between us and pulled her into a gentle hug, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Chantelle stepped back, the biggest smile on her face. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Thirty minutes later, we stood at the entrance to the hotel’s conservatory, waiting for the music to begin. The room in front of us was packed with guests, and late-spring sunshine streamed through the windows onto the aisle that was lined with chairs, each with bouquets of trailing flowers tied to the ends. At the front of the line stood Kelsey, armed with a basket of petals, followed by several bridesmaids and then Chantelle’s mum with Chantelle and me at the end.
I’d been surprised when Chantelle had asked me to walk her down the aisle instead of her mum, but I’d been absolutely honoured.
As the music struck up—“Who Is She” from Cinderella —Chantelle squeezed my arm, and I felt tears start to prickle my eyes. The doors swung open, and the bridesmaids began their slow walk. Everyone in the audience aww ed at Kelsey, and I was sure she was loving every moment of the attention.
“Ready?” I asked, my voice catching again. Chantelle nodded. We took a step forward and swept down the aisle together.
At the end, I saw Jules waiting for us, looking resplendent in a dark blue suit with Eli beside her. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she watched us, and I couldn’t blame her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gem standing next to Lewis, Jason, Edward, Izzy, Leo, and Jay. Every single one of them looked ready to burst, and as we walked past, I couldn’t stop myself from mouthing, “I love you” to Gem.
When we reached the end of the aisle, I brushed a kiss against Chantelle’s cheek before taking my seat with the rest of the bridesmaids, digging my handkerchief out of my pocket to wipe my eyes as gracefully as I could.
As the registrar started talking about love and marriage, I realised how much had changed over the past couple of years. It seemed like only yesterday I’d introduced Chantelle and Jules and then teased Chantelle about them being “friends” when she’d appeared at the opening weekend of Castle Games. Chantelle had said it was nothing, but everything had fallen into place so quickly after that weekend that from the outside it had seemed so beautifully easy.
When Lewis stood up to read a poem, I turned my head to look at Gem. We’d been together for over two years now, and I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it. Sure, there had been bumps in the road, but every couple had those, and ours had never been that serious. Mostly it was just one of us getting annoyed at the other for working too much.
Castle Games had gone from strength to strength ever since it opened, and Gem was starting to wonder whether it might be worth looking at larger premises. The only thing stopping him was the idea of moving, which we’d both agreed would be a nightmare. Setting up the shop the first time around had been draining enough, and doing it again sounded like torture. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily be against more mid-painting, stockroom blow jobs if the opportunity ever arose.
Gem had hired a second member of staff, which, to my surprise, had turned out to be Link, the guy Jesse had left him for. I sometimes wondered whether I should thank Link for gifting me Gem, but that would probably be very awkward. Link was very sweet, if lacking a smidge of common sense at times, but he was a hard worker, and everyone liked him. Link, Gem, and I had done a big board game show together last summer, leaving the shop in Lewis’s and Jay’s hands for the weekend, and it had been fun if exhausting. Link’s natural exuberance had helped make it less torturous than I’d been expecting.
Gem had even started designing games again after seeing the testing tables at the show, and now hosted monthly play test nights in the basement of The Lost World for local creators to come and experiment on willing participants. Seeing Gem do both made me happy in a way I couldn’t explain, but I was so proud of him for never giving up on his dream—even if the execution looked slightly different from how he’d first imagined it.
My narration work had continued to grow, and I’d even won a couple of awards last year. It meant I had more authors and recording companies interested than ever, but I was getting better at managing my diary now. I was careful not to overbook myself because I actually had a reason to stop working in the evenings. I continued to run Fantasy and Filth too, and my fears that Gem would get jealous and want me to stop had never materialised. Instead, he was more than happy to help me with scenarios and scripts, and I was all too happy to have his assistance.
When the ceremony ended and Jules and Chantelle filed out as wives, I clapped so hard my hands started to hurt. Gem found me afterwards and kissed me softly. “That was beautiful,” he said. “They look so happy.”
“They do.” I handed him a packet of confetti from a little basket on a nearby table. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“I love you too.” Gem slipped his hand into mine and led me outside. “By the way, Blake sent me a photo of Pip asleep on Merry’s head.” I chuckled as Gem pulled out his phone to show me the picture. Pippin and Merry were a pair of kittens we’d bought not long after we’d moved in together eighteen months ago. They were both adorable, if incredibly troublesome, but I loved having them around. Gem and I had already decided that once we bought a house, which was the next thing we were aiming for, we were going to make sure there were lots of things for them to sit on and in because they adored climbing on everything, even if it wasn’t designed for climbing.
“One day, Merry is going to lose his patience with his brother,” I said.
“Probably, but Pippin still won’t learn boundaries. He thinks Merry’s personal space is his too.”
I laughed and handed Gem back his phone before looking around at the assembled guests. “Come on. You can help me round everyone up for the confetti tunnel.”
“Fine, but I want two envelopes,” he said with a grin. “And a kiss.”
“Done.” I kissed him deeply and squeezed his hand. I was the luckiest man in the world. I’d found the man of my dreams, the man who’d seen me for who I truly was, and he had found me. And my life couldn’t be more perfect.
The End