Epilogue
Two years later…
As mayor, Mason was probably a little biased, but he didn’t think anything could top a Roseview wedding.
Funerals could be complicated and messy, depending on the family.
Reunions could be awkward and tense. But the town’s cherry blossom trees were in full bloom in the spring, making it impossible to find a bad view, no matter where you were standing.
Roseview put its most charming foot forward, and romance was always in the air because spring was also wedding season.
Even the fake weddings were spectacular.
Mason’s second wedding was taking place at the Sutton House as well.
But this time, it was real and his heart was racing for all the right reasons.
He was fighting back tears of joy as he waited with Sarina and his father by the gazebo steps in the rose garden.
His first wedding had been on the beach, not far from where they were standing.
Many of the smiling faces were the same.
Minus Nana and Lance and a few other neighbors who had passed.
Nana was there in spirit, though. Her garden was her passion, with its prize-winning white roses and wisteria walkway and gazebo.
Across the gazebo’s steps from Mason, Kayla and Little Sam stood as Sky’s best friends of honor.
Little Sam’s tux, and Sarina’s and Kayla’s dresses were powder blue, Nana’s favorite color.
Lexie looked radiant and was beaming, seated next to Kayla’s new girlfriend, Rachel, an attorney and recent transplant from the city. Rachel had recently purchased Mason’s “old” house and he had a feeling that Kayla wouldn’t be needing the pool house for much longer.
Mason’s mother was seated in the front row.
He caught her dabbing at her eyes under her sunglasses.
In a strange turn of events, Adele and Kate became friends.
They bonded after Sam Sr.’s stroke and Sarina and Mason’s divorce.
Kate thought Adele was a riot and didn’t take a thing she said seriously, while Adele respected Kate’s bluntness.
She actually responded well when someone laughed in her face and told her she was being ridiculous.
Perhaps it helped that they were connected by their children’s unconventional marriages and intertwined relationships, and their love for Little Sam.
Very few people could relate to their unique situation or embrace it so effortlessly.
And Adele did seem genuinely pleased with how things had turned out and to have Sky home for good.
A string quartet played “Still Into You” by Paramore as Adele and Nadine stepped out of the house’s back doors with Sky.
Mason started sobbing as they passed under the wisteria walkway and approached the garden.
Sky and Mason chose classic, matching tuxedos, but Sky switched his dress shoes for his Converse and skipped the tie.
He’d never looked more handsome or more perfect to Mason.
Tears spilled down Sky’s cheeks and he was trembling as he joined Mason and they held hands.
“Are you okay?” Mason whispered.
Sky nodded. “I’m good, Mase! I wasn’t expecting you to look so handsome or to be this happy, but I’m okay.” He sniffed hard and pushed out a slow, wavering breath before nodding at Reverend Thomas. “You can start now.”
The reverend smiled warmly at Sky. “You haven’t changed one bit, son, and I’m so glad,” he said, then addressed the audience behind them.
“Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today in the presence of God to witness and bless this union as Skylar Ainsley Sutton and Mason Geoffrey Cartwright join together in Holy matrimony. ”
They held hands as the reverend shared a brief and extremely redacted summary of their journey from childhood friendship to love and instructed them to share their prepared vows.
Sky had his on a notecard and Mason frowned when he noted how tiny the print was and that both sides of the card were filled. He hadn’t written his down and they weren’t that long…
What was I thinking? I’m marrying a writer.
He looked at Sarina for help but she gestured for him to breathe and remain calm as Sky cleared his throat and squinted at his card.
“Mason…” He looked up at Mason and smiled.
“That’s you. Hi. Um—” He glanced back down at the card and nodded as he read, then cleared his throat “Love, like other abstract concepts, can be difficult for someone like me to grasp. As a Sutton, I’m at a disadvantage,” he said, pausing as everyone laughed.
“But I understood love and exactly what it felt like at a very young age because I had you, Mason. You have always been generous and open and kind. Everything that love is supposed to be. Before we were men, you loved me—the autistic, damaged, bitter, weird little boy who started following you and Sarina around as soon as he could walk. And before we were men, I loved you because you never tried to change me or push me away because I was different. You believed in me and you were my first fan. Literally,” he said as he turned to their guests.
“He read the very first draft of my first book, back when I was eight and he was thirteen.”
“It’s true,” Mason said, nodding and crying as he remembered the title, Full Moon Mystery Race, and the werewolf detective on the cover. “It was about an investigator who could only solve mysteries during a full moon.”
“I forgot about that!” Sarina whispered tearfully.
Nadine blew her nose loudly from her seat next to Kate and Adele. “I remember it!” she sobbed into a handkerchief.
Sky nodded solemnly at Mason. “Not my best work, but you told me to keep writing and to always follow my dreams. You are all I’ve ever known of love and even when loving you hurt the worst, it was all worth it for the life and the family we have now.
There has never been a day that I didn’t love you, and there never will, for as long as I live.
” He put his card away, giving Mason and everyone else a chance to dry their eyes.
Mason took another moment to compose himself and shrugged at Sky.
“It’s always been you. When I met Sina on the playground, my little brain recognized that we were the same—kindred souls and best friends for life.
But when we were goofy teenagers, my heart decided that I was made for you and that you were made for me.
From that moment on, it was settled and no one else ever caught my eye.
But I was too scared and couldn’t admit that I was waiting for you.
I took a bit of a detour,” he said and mouthed an apology, earning an eye roll from Sky.
“I don’t know how else to say I forgive you,” he said as he gestured around them.
There were more snickers and chuckles and Sarina was gasping for breath. Mason couldn’t tell if she was fighting back a sob or a roar of laughter but he continued.
“Life—and death—kept bringing us back together until I finally had another chance to get this right. I will always be grateful, and I will never take for granted how lucky I am to be loved by someone as brilliant and brave and beautiful as you.”
Little Sam presented them with their wedding bands, upcycled from one of Nana’s heirloom diamond and platinum necklaces. There were also matching cuff links and Sky had the remaining stones turned into a single hoop earring.
Everyone was choked up as the rings were exchanged, including Reverend Thomas. “By the power vested in me by the great state of New York, in the presence of God and the witness of friends and family, it is my great privilege to pronounce you married. You may kiss.”
Mason gathered Sky in his arms for a thorough kiss as the garden erupted in applause, cheers, and whistles.
A four-tiered vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and powder blue cupcakes were waiting on the terrace, along with a jazz band.
There were servers passing out flutes of champagne and strawberry Jell-O shots and bearing trays of mini lobster rolls and slices of pizza from Gino’s.
“This is the best wedding ever. Thanks, Mase,” Sky said as they “danced.”
Mason wasn’t a bad dancer, but Sky was less coordinated and had trouble focusing when he was listening to music.
Not wanting to make Sky self-conscious or overstimulate him at his own wedding, the band had been asked to play softer, more mellow song selections.
Celebrating the couple and their growing family was the focus of the reception, not dancing.
“I was thinking the same thing earlier.” Mason slowly turned Sky, hunting for Sarina in the crowd.
A year earlier, Sarina and Lexie had married in a simple sunset ceremony on the beach. It had been a magical evening and just one of the many wonderful new memories they were creating at Sutton House as a new family.
But unlike at her wedding, Sarina wasn’t drinking alcohol because she was pregnant again.
With Sky’s child.
She had suggested surrogacy as a joke, at first, saying that as a Sutton, she had always dreamed of being her niece or nephew’s sister and birth mother. It had happened over dinner and Mason could tell by the way Sarina’s and Sky’s eyes locked and glowed that the joke had just become a pact.
Which was more than fine with Mason. He loved every moment of Sam’s infant and toddler years and was glad to have as many kids as Sky wanted.
Two.
That was all Sky wanted. He was thrilled when they found out that their second attempt at implantation had been a success, but he was ecstatic when they learned they were having a girl.
Mason’s cousin, Alexa, had donated her eggs and they were naming the baby Grace Elizabeth Cartwright Sutton, after Nana and Mason’s grandmother.
She was due in four months and her nursery was already finished. There was no way Nadine and Kayla were letting that baby come into the world without a dream nursery, fully stocked with plenty of books for her big brother to read to her, cozy rocking chairs, and the softest stuffed animals.