Epilogue
EPILOGUE
RILEY- 3 YEARS LATER
R iley couldn’t hold back her laughter as she looked at Brody. She thought that he and Jett were just joking, but she should have known how far jokes fly in their family. What started out as a quick comment from Jett three years ago turned into a complete promise from Brody—and sure enough, he was wearing a light blue dress.
It actually took her, Jett, and Brody a fair minute to find a dress that actually suited Brody and didn’t look absolutely terrible on him, but now that they had, Riley had to admit that Brody kept his promise. He rocked that dress.
Brody looked at Riley as she kept laughing.
“Keep laughing,” he said, “but we won’t be laughing when you change into your wedding suit and I steal the show. Everyone’s going to be looking at me instead of you and Jett.”
“Oh, I’ll still be laughing when that happens, I get to marry Jett and live happily ever after!” Riley said and Brody laughed.
“Honestly, fair enough,” Brody said. “I now have so much respect for women who wear dresses. This feels so weird.”
“It’s also a formal dress,” Hannah said, standing behind him with a three-year-old Emma on her back giggling as she occasionally put her hands over her mom’s eyes. “Casual dresses and skirts are more comfortable.”
“Ah, I can’t wear dresses or skirts,” Riley laughed. “Never have done. They really aren’t me.”
“Fair enough,” Brody said. “I do have to admit, my jewels are enjoying the freedom.”
Riley scrunched up her face in disgust.
“Ew,” Jett said. “Ew, ew, ew.”
“What?” Brody asked. “What’s wrong, bro?”
“You,” Jett said. “I don’t want to hear about your ‘jewels’ ever or about how free they are.”
“Well, they are,” Brody said. “They’re swinging happily and everything.” Riley knew that Brody was now continuing just to gross his sister out but she couldn’t help but also be grossed out. She had begun to think of Brody as a brother, too, and she definitely didn’t want any details on the wellbeing of his nether regions.
“Ew,” Jett said again, “just stop. You also have a child here who doesn’t need to hear what you’re saying.”
Brody laughed and shrugged. “She doesn’t even know what I’m talking about anyway,” he said, turning around to face his wife and daughter as he tickled under Emma’s chin. “Do you, baby girl?”
It was now Hannah’s turn to roll her eyes. “Cut it out anyway,” she said. “It’s your sister’s wedding day. Now is the time to be serious and not tease her.”
Brody rolled his eyes. “Like she didn’t threaten to spill wine on my suit when we got married.”
“It was revenge for this,” Jett said and Brody laughed.
“Whatever,” he said. “But fine, I’ll stop talking about how absolutely awesome my balls feel in this dress.” His voice rose as he said the last part and Hannah and Riley both smacked the top of their heads.
“I’m going to strangle you,” Jett said.
“Why?” Brody asked, “I said I’d stop.”
“I will make you take the dress off,” Jett said.
“No,” Brody said. “Besides, I have a promise to keep. I’m going to rock this dress all day.”
Riley laughed and shook her head while Jett rolled her eyes.
“Whatever you say, bro,” Jett said.
“Okay,” Hannah said. “I know that you’re fascinated by Brody in a dress and that we’ve still got time before the ceremony starts, but you two should start getting ready before the guests arrive.”
“The guests won’t be here for another three hours,” Brody said.
“Which is why they need to get ready and we need to finish setting everything up,” Hannah said.
“I thought we set everything up last night,” Riley said, confused. She had never been part of a wedding, so she barely knew what she was doing. That’s why when Jett suggested they get Hannah to help with everything as a sort of wedding planner, she had jumped at the suggestion.
“There are still a few more things to do,” Hannah said, “and I also want to double-check everything before the photographer gets here in two hours.”
“Fair enough,” Riley said. “You’re the boss.”
Hannah gave her a smile and laughed slightly. “You know, I think I’ve been more concerned about this wedding going perfectly than either of you two have been.”
“I think so, too,” Jett said. “But I can’t complain about it. You’ve been the bridezilla so neither of us have had to be.”
“And I never really thought I’d ever get married or thought about what I’d do if I did, so I don’t really have any specifications about what I wanted to happen,” Riley said.
“Except the color scheme,” Jett said.
“Except the color scheme,” Riley agreed, “but that was more your fault than anything.” Riley had wanted the theme for their wedding to be yellow and blue, just like the flowers Jett had given her for the first time. Riley’s own suit was a beautiful dark blue and Jett was going to be wearing a lemon yellow dress. They were unconventional and Riley liked it.
Jett smiled. “I’ll gladly take the blame for that.”
Riley smiled and gave her fiancée, her soon-to-be wife, a hug. Riley couldn’t believe that before the day was over, she would be married to Jett. It all felt so surreal.
“Okay, hug it out,” Hannah said. “Me and Brody are going to head out and make sure everything is perfect. You two get ready. Also, the hair and makeup ladies will be arriving in less than an hour, so the clock is ticking.”
“You know, I could have done my own makeup,” Jett said. “Or just not wear any.”
Hannah squinted at Jett. They’d had that argument before. An argument that Jett lost, considering that Hannah still hired a few people to do their makeup. “She will do neutral make up on you two! We have been through this. You’ll look great in the photos and it will be so natural, no-one will ever know you are wearing any. I, at least, want my makeup done.”
Jett rolled her eyes. “I’ll let them do my makeup.”
“Good,” Hannah said and Riley laughed.
“See you two again in a little bit,” Hannah said before leaving. Emma waved at them from her mom’s back.
“Bye-bye,” Emma said and Riley gave a little wave back before Hannah, Emma, and Brody left the room.
* * *
Riley and Jett turned to the task of getting dressed. It was nice that they both thought the idea of how you’re not supposed to see each other before the wedding was a little dumb. Like, it was cute, but the two of them had decided that they wanted to walk down the aisle together since neither of them had fathers to walk them down.
Riley turned to see Jett slipped into her lemon yellow long dress. She looked incredible. Riley took a deep breath and smiled as she helped Jett zip herself into the dress.
She gave Jett a hug. “You look so beautiful,” she said. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
“And you look so very handsome.” Jett’s beautiful eyes were warm as she ran her gaze over Riley’s dark blue suit. Riley was so happy about the suit, Ember had helped her choose it by taking her to a tailor who specialized in women’s suits. It had been made to fit her body and Riley felt like she couldn’t have chosen anything better.
It was just a small wedding with family and close friends and they were both happy with that. Emma and Natalie looked beautiful as bridesmaids.
Riley was excited and nervous, and as the makeup and hair people came and went, she got even more nervous, especially as Hannah ushered her and Jett into the back room to hide before the guests started to arrive.
Riley looked at Jett as the two of them listened to the commotion outside of the room as their guests started to arrive. Riley could hear Hannah’s voice talking to Jett’s mom.
Riley continued to look at Jett, and she smiled. Jett smiled back and wrapped her arms around Riley’s waist.
“I love you,” Riley said.
“I love you, too,” Jett said, “and I always will.
Riley smiled. She was a little nervous about the future. Before meeting Jett, she barely knew how to have a relationship, much less a marriage. But she knew that with Jett by her side she’d be able to figure it out. The two of them would get through anything together, and Riley was confident that they’d be together until they died. Which, of course, wouldn’t be for a very long time.
After what felt like hours of waiting, all of the guests were seated and Hannah grabbed the two women from the back room.
“Okay,” Hannah said before she gave Riley and Jett a smile. “You two ready?”
“Yeah,” Riley said.
“Definitely,” Jett said. Riley looked at her soon-to-be wife and the two shared a smile.
* * *
When Riley heard, “You may kiss the bride,” she practically leaped into Jett’s arms and placed a lingering kiss on her lips, causing many of the observers to applaud and let out sounds of awe. At the very least, Riley would never forget that kiss, she could feel its ghost on her lips as she pulled away from Jett and Jett pulled her back, giving her another long kiss and causing many of their onlookers to laugh.
* * *
It was around ten o’clock before everyone decided to call it a night. Hannah walked over to Riley and Jett with a sleeping Emma on her shoulder.
“I need to take this little one home,” she said. “But everyone else is going to take care of the cleanup. You two head home. You have a flight to catch early in the morning.”
“Thank you for everything,” Riley said, and she gently petted Emma’s head before giving Hannah a gentle hug, careful not to jostle Emma.
“Of course,” Hannah said. “And it’s so good for you to officially be a part of the family.”
“You can say that again,” Becky said loudly and Riley startled. She hadn’t seen or heard Becky walk over. Becky gave Riley a hug. “It’s so good to have another niece, but you don’t have to call me Aunt Becky,” Becky roared with laughter at her own joke.
Riley smiled and blushed slightly. She felt like she might cry from overwhelming happiness. “Thank you guys,” she said, “and thank you for really treating me like family, even at the beginning when we barely knew each other.”
“You’ll always be family,” Jett’s mom joined in, “but you two should get going real soon. You do have a honeymoon to get to before the sun even comes up.”
Riley actually had no clue what they were doing for their honeymoon. All she knew was that Jett planned it with the help of her family and all of them had kept it an airtight secret. They packed Riley’s bag for her and everything. The only thing that Riley knew was that she was going to have to wake up at five in the morning to get to the airport in time for their flight, but where they were going or what they were doing was a complete secret.
When Riley and Jett got outside to Jett’s car, Riley and Jett both started laughing. Their family and friends had decorated the car with window paint, writing “Just married!” across the back windshield. And, someone—Riley thought it looked suspiciously like Lucinda’s handwriting—wrote “Lesbians coming through!” across the passenger side windows.
“Oh my God,” Jett said.
“I didn’t know people actually did that,” Riley said. “I just thought it was a movie thing.”
“Oh yeah,” Jett said. “You should have seen Brody and Hannah’s car after they got married. Actually…” Jett paused for a moment and started walking to the driver’s side of the car, “I want to see something.”
Jett walked to the driver’s side, and Riley was curious, so she joined her, and when she got there, she saw Jett shaking her head and laughing. Riley saw that someone had written “ew, lesbians!” on the window. Riley was very confused.
Jett kept laughing, but after a while she calmed down and was able to speak. “So when Brody and Hannah got married, I wrote ‘ew, straight people’ on their car and Brody and Hannah always promised that they’d get me back.”
Riley laughed. “Well they sure did,” she said. “Your family definitely takes jokes really far.”
Jett shrugged and smiled, but then she looked at Riley. “You know,” she started, “they’re you’re family now, too, so you have to get used to it.”
“I think I have a little bit,” Riley said, and she smiled at the thought of Jett’s family being her family. It took Riley decades and a marriage, but she finally had a family and one that she loved and that loved her back. Riley didn’t care that sometimes they took jokes too far or that she would sometimes get asked embarrassing questions at the dinner table; she loved the Thompsons so much and she was ecstatic to be one of them.
Not in name, of course. She had considered changing her last name, but Jett wouldn’t have it, saying that she had put too much into a career under the name Parker that to change it would be a disservice. It was okay, though; Riley’d had that name her entire life so she was a little happy to keep it anyway. Besides, she had a ring and Jett to remind her that she was married.
Riley smiled at Jett as she kept her eyes on the road and Riley tried guessing where they were going like she had been the last several weeks.
“It’s not out of the country is it?” Riley asked.
“I’m not telling you,” Jett said, which was her frustrating response to every question Riley asked.
“Oh, come on,” Riley said. “We have less than seven hours until we have to be at the airport. Don’t you think you’ve kept this secret long enough?”
Jett laughed. “Okay,” she said. “Do you really wanna know?”
“Yes,” Riley said.
“We’re going to Disney World,” Jett said and Riley’s jaw dropped open.
She had never gone to Disney World, but when she was in high school, her class had gone on a trip there and her foster parents had refused. She’d always wanted to go and she was so mad that she had lost that chance.
“Shit,” Riley said and Jett looked concerned.
“What?” Jett asked. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to go.”
“It’s not that,” Riley said, “but now that I know where we’re going I’m not going to be able to fall asleep- I’m just too excited!”
* * *
When they got home, Romeo wound himself around their legs, purring wildly.
“Here, have some more biscuits, Mr Handsome Beans,” Jett said, opening the cupboard where they kept the cat biscuits and Romeo tucked in happily.
“Jett,” Riley said, seriously for a second, and Jett looked around, her brown eyes warm and full of curiosity.
“I just want you to know, I’m so happy to be your wife. I’m so grateful for everything. This honeymoon will be amazing, I know. And, well afterwards, when we get home, we have our final adoption home assessment. I just can’t wait for our children to join our home.”
When Riley and Jett had moved in together and realized how happy they had been at adopting Romeo and being able to give him a loving home, Riley had realized they could do the same for children in foster care.
She had worried about bringing the possibility of adoption up to Jett, it felt like a huge thing, but Jett had been so on board from the start.
They had gone through the process and were in the final stages of adopting a sibling group of three sisters aged 7, 3 and a baby. Anna, Ava and Amara. It would be a huge adjustment to their lives obviously, but they wanted to give these girls a loving home and a family, because they had never had that.
They were both taking some time off work while the girls settled in, and then afterwards they both planned to go back to work just on a part time basis, so they could give everything to caring for their new family.
Jett smiled and came and sat on Riley’s knee. She smelled like the fresh floral fragrance of her perfume and something else, something unmistakably Jett.
“I can’t wait either, sweetheart. We are so lucky that we will get to be their moms.”
Riley smiled and nuzzled into Jett’s neck.
She had a home, a wife and a family, and she had found her happiness.