Epilogue
Riley
June
I twisted my engagement ring around my finger as Emery walked around me touching up the way my dress lay, looking around me and out at the mountains from the back porch of the cabin. “It doesn’t have to be perfect,” I told her. “Hurry up, I want to see him already.” It had been three hours since we woke up and went our separate ways to get ready. I wanted to get ready together, to not spend a moment of our day apart. He insisted on separating to get ready so he could have the surprise of seeing me.
She stepped back and rolled her eyes but smiled at me. “Okay, okay. I’m going to go get him now.”
The photographer stepped away from where she stood near the door and moved to the other side of the cabin porch. I took a deep breath and smoothed my hands over the flowy fabric of my dress. It was a simple white dress with a silhouette similar to the coral dress I wore a year ago today and a short train. I try not to touch the curls that Emery worked so hard on, making sure they fell just right over my shoulders.
Matt walked through the door with a hand over his eyes, Emery behind him guiding him gently by his shoulders. She guided him to stand in front of me and backpedaled into the cabin. I took another deep breath as I reached for his hand.
He was smiling before he even opened his eyes. He opened them slowly as I moved his hand to cup my cheek. We stood there, taking each other in silence with goofy grins spread across both our faces. His eyes filled with tears that felt like a fist around my heart.
“Hi,” I said, finally breaking the silence. “Happy tears?”
He nodded and rubbed his hands over my shoulders and arms. His fingers paused to toy with the straps of the dress before resuming their paths.
“Matt, say something,” I pleaded.
“You are so beautiful,” his voice cracked when he finally spoke. “I can’t believe this is real.”
“Me too.” The tears I had been trying to hold back spilled over.
“Can I kiss you now or do we have to wait?” He leaned toward me, lifting my chin with his thumb and forefinger. If he didn’t kiss me I might lose my mind.
“I think we get to make those rules, it’s our wedding after all.”
Our ceremony flew by. I was so focused on the man in front of me I couldn’t remember a single other detail. We opted to keep the day simple, inviting our families to share the largest cabin we could find for vacation this year. Matt and I rented a smaller one nearby so we could have our privacy tonight. We let our moms and Emery do whatever they wanted with the food. All I cared about was that Matt had whatever he wanted today.
The day felt like a dream; we had to keep squeezing each other’s hands to reassure ourselves.
The reception at the big cabin our families were renting together felt never ending. Matt and Emery forced me to stop and eat at some point. Just like during our first date, Matt’s hand never left mine.
***
Matt pulled me into our little cabin, the same one we had stayed in during our trip in October and locked the door behind him. He leaned against the door and let his eyes roam over me. His shirt was half untucked from me tugging at it on our short drive here from the big cabin, his tie loose around his neck.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked him. I reached for him and pulled him against me.
He tucked my hair behind my ears and locked his eyes with mine. “I’m just taking in the moment.”
I fisted his shirt in my hands and pulled him closer. “I need to tell you something really important.”
His smile dropped and concern filled his eyes. “Is everything okay?”
I laughed and kissed his mouth until he was smiling against mine. “Hi, husband.”
His eyes darkened as they roamed over my face, his thumbing brushing against my bottom lip. “New rule, you’re not allowed to call me anything other than husband.”
“What if I just call you mine?”
“Only if I get to keep you.” He smiled and turned me to back me against the door.
“Only if you plan to keep me forever.”
He hovered his mouth over mine as he pressed his body against mine. His fingers twisted in the straps of my dress as butterflies swarmed my stomach. I tried to lift my lips to meet his, but he pulled away, keeping the distance there as he dragged his left hand down my arm until he could intertwine our fingers. He lifted our hands up so I could see the rings on my finger and twisted them to show me the ring on his. “It’s a good thing that’s exactly what I plan to do, wife.”
His lips met mine. The buzz of anxiety that had been in the back of my mind all day went silent. A year ago today my heart met his and told me I was home. Today, I knew home was here to stay.