Epilogue
TAYLOR
Two Years Later
T hree months into his new position, he’s still not used to the view behind the reception desk at Storybook Endings Catskills. Who thought it was a good idea for him to start right before summer? On this Friday afternoon in July, the front door of The Castle is constantly propped open, a flood of eager families crowding inside for a slice of easy living.
The biggest comfort underpinning the learning curve is that every floorboard that creaks below him as he crosses for a key on the wall is a floorboard that creaked for Ethan. Every drawer he opens to retrieve a ballpoint pen from has a handle that Ethan touched a million or more times. Even though Ethan doesn’t work at the resort any longer, his presence remains embedded in the space.
Ping.
Not that Taylor could ever forget about his fiancé when they send voice notes to each other all throughout the day.
When the family of four—with twin daughters, each wearing their own fuzzy tiara—happily waddles away with their welcome packet, Taylor shimmies into the break room to listen.
“The archery exhibition for the first session went really well. Twyla’s mom cried. I guess she’s never stuck with an activity before. It’s going to be tough saying goodbye to this first crop of kids, but I’m glad another one will be here next week. Seeing them get excited about sharpening their skills is… It’s something else,” he says before a pause. Taylor imagines his burly future husband going misty-eyed with passion. It’s one of Taylor’s favorite sights. Ethan’s throat clears. “Anyway, I’m just glad the rain held out so we didn’t have to move inside.”
Taylor loses his focus for a second, switching over to the weather app himself. A nervous gurgle sounds off from his gut. Looks as if the storm system is moving quickly, bypassing them completely. Excellent. Taylor would have his own score to settle with Mother Nature if she begrudges them with lightning and thunder tonight. Though, he supposes given how their relationship started—him soaked to the bone while banging on the door to the cottage he now calls home—it would be on-theme.
Sasha, Samara and his parents emerge from How Do You Brew with to-go cups of iced beverages clattering and sweating in their hands. “Hey, we were thinking of taking a walk on one of the trails before the day gets away from us. Are you sure there’s nothing we can do to help set up?” Sasha asks. She and his parents all came in last night and are secretly staying in the Rapunzel cottage together. Sasha wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of having to share quarters with their parents, but it was a necessary evil given their aversion to being where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there, and this trip is all about Taylor, so she yielded to his wishes.
Once he knew his relationship with Ethan was one for the long haul and he’d 99.9 percent be taking over Ethan’s job at the Catskills location, he made an effort to zip down from Lake Tahoe every other week and reconnect with his parents.
Meeting Ethan’s family illustrated a long dormant thought: as he grows older, so do his parents. Ethan’s weekly dinner trips—which have become Ethan and Taylor’s weekly dinner trips together—with Mr. and Mrs. Golding aren’t about reconciling childhood or airing old grievances. They are about honoring the people who raised you, faults and all. Taylor decided to adopt that model.
“No, thank you. My staff has it all covered.”
My staff. Two words Taylor never imagined himself saying when he applied for the position with Amy Lu. This shift in professional perspective is strange. His whole life, he’s lived in service of others, and in a way, in hospitality, he’s still doing that. But now he has a whole team operating alongside him, lightening his load.
“Here. Take a map,” Taylor says, passing a paper over to Sasha. “Reception can get spotty the farther you go.”
“I think you’re forgetting I grew up in these woods,” says Samara. She arrived earlier in the week. In a little over a month, she’ll be a full-time photography and sociology student at NYU. Ethan is thrilled to have this time with her and that she won’t be too far away once the semester starts.
“Just be sure to make it back in time to get ready.”
“Can I take Nana?” Samara asks.
“Please do, but don’t forget to wash her paws when you get in.”
“You got it,” she says with a smile.
And he loves this little family unit they’ve created.
He can’t wait to make it official tonight.
ETHAN
The cottage is quieter than it’s been since he did those renovations last year and since Taylor moved in five months ago.
Where is he? Where’s Samara?
He doesn’t even hear Nana’s nails tapping against the new floorboards. The only sound is a light wind rapping against the walls.
After dropping his bag and bringing his personal archery equipment into the garage, he wanders into the bedroom, following the light of a lamp accidentally left on. On the bed, there’s a book he’s never seen before set out beside his suit, which is in a dry-cleaning bag. A single red rose lies diagonally across the two.
The book is a hardcover with a matte finish. The script title reads: The Two Lost Princes .
The story goes:
Once upon a time, there lived two princes—Prince Ethan and Prince Taylor—with kingdoms on opposite coasts. One day a fierce, independent Queen sent Prince Taylor on a quest across the country…
As he flips the pages, taking in the colorful, blocky illustrations of two men laying down their armor and falling in love, he tears up. His heartbeat takes on a completely new tempo and his cheeks warm to the touch.
When he gets toward the place in the book that mirrors where Ethan and Taylor are now in their relationship—-sharing a castle—he grows confused. There are more pages.
More story.
More—
One of his bright yellow sticky notes with Taylor’s handwriting on it draws his attention.
Stop! Don’t read on. Put on your suit and meet me at the barn at 7:30 sharp.
All my love,
Taylor
Feeling light on his feet and anxious with anticipation, Ethan showers, grooms his beard, fixes that one pesky lock of hair with a bit of pomade and then dons his suit. Whatever romantic gesture Taylor has in store for him is worth his best tie, which is purple with a gold checkered pattern. Another gift from Samara “because it looks like that flannel you never stop wearing no matter how many times we tell you it’s too ratty.”
For a change, he doesn’t let his mind run ahead of his footsteps.
Music and soft light spill out the open doors to the barn. Underneath the guitar, there is laughter, chatter. Ethan zeroes in on his breath, the sensation of his hands unfurling inside the satiny pockets of his blazer. His engagement ring holds new heft when he turns the corner and peers inside, knowing that it will soon be replaced with a wedding band. The second and last one he’ll ever receive in this lifetime.
Gathered there before him is everyone he loves—Amy, his parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews. But his eyes swing right to Taylor at the end of an impossibly long aisle, hair tamed and cheeks pink. The music switches to more of a march. Samara, appearing beside him, takes him by the hand. “Come on,” she says, tugging him along when he doesn’t step in time with her to the music.
Amazement clamps his feet in place for a beat.
Amazement that he could love and be loved by a man who knows him this well. Well enough to know that planning a second wedding would’ve been an intolerable task for him.
This intimate, surprise ceremony is cozy and beautiful and everything he didn’t realize he wanted when he proposed to Taylor all those months ago.
When he stands in front of Taylor now, the first of many tears fall. “Hey,” Taylor says, gently brushing them away, “no crying yet. I haven’t even said my vows.” Everyone in the room laughs, including Ethan who, quite frankly, couldn’t care less about tradition.
Instead of waiting for the customary “And you may now…” part, he takes his about-to-be-husband’s gorgeous face between his vibrating hands and kisses him as they turn a fresh page together.
* * *