Epilogue Caro
T he crickets singing in the long grass quiet as we walk through a garden path behind the theatre. I’ve already ditched my heels and they dangle from my free hand, the other wrapped safely in Berg’s big palm. The interlocking brick of the winding footpath is warm beneath my bare toes.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he leads me past a barely blooming rosebush. “Don’t we have reservations for supper?”
I’m happy to follow along if only to get a view of his bum in those suit pants. He bought a custom suit for this event and it fits him in all the right places. He’d never admit it, but he’s developed a taste for shopping, much to the girls’ excitement.
“I have a graduation gift for you.”
“Okay,” I say, slowly, hoping he didn’t spend too much money .
We’ve been talking about going to Disneyland in the fall and between flights and hotels, that will cost a pretty penny. The tuition money my parents saved was exactly what I needed to see me through my final year, and I even paid my brother back for the money he loaned me, although it took a lot of convincing to make him accept. A narrow stream flows beneath a stone bridge, and I pause at the centre of the structure to enjoy the view. It’s cooler here near the water with Japanese Maples filtering the later afternoon sun.
“I’m really proud of you, you know,” Berg says behind me.
I let a blossom fall from my fingers into the current. “I’m proud of myself.”
This last year my confidence has grown. I’m not letting the choices I made in the past overshadow my present, and they certainly won’t hold me back from my future.
When I turn, intent on giving Berg a big hug in such a beautiful place, I find him kneeling. My hands fly up to cover my mouth as I gasp. Clasped between his fingers is a gleaming gold ring with a beautiful oval diamond in the centre.
Oh, my god.
“Carolina. I had no idea when I asked you for your help with the girls that you’d fit into our family so seamlessly.”
“Berg,” I whisper through trembling hands.
“And I certainly didn’t think I’d have a chance to transform my little family into something so beautiful.”
I have no hope in hell at preventing my tears from falling. Berg’s eyes are glassy too as he reaches up and takes my left hand .
“Carolina Wolfe…I loved hearing them call your name as you walked across the stage, but will you take my name instead and make me the happiest, grouchy old guy ever?”
My laugh is watery as I nod emphatically, allowing him to slide the ring over my knuckle.
“It’s a perfect fit.”
“Remember when you tried Ashlyn’s ring on?”
I gasp, remembering feeling a titch mischievous as I slipped on her antique ring at their engagement party a couple months back. She’d insisted, and I couldn’t help myself.
“Sneaky! Very sneaky.”
“All I had to do was ask her if it fit you.”
“I’m sure that was really subtle.”
“She promised she wouldn’t tell anybody. But there are two other people that know.”
The girls? Surely not. Lou could never keep that quiet.
“How on earth did you get Louisa to not tell me!?”
“Oh,” Berg laughs, shaking his head. “I didn’t. Natalie knows, and the other person is your dad.”
My lip wobbles at the idea of Berg asking my dad’s permission to marry me.
“I know it’s a little old-fashioned, but I needed to make sure he was okay with it. I guess…I guess I’d love it if someone did the same for my daughters one day.”
“You are such a softy,” I say, rising onto my bare feet to reach Berg’s lips.
“Don’t tell anyone, though. ”
“I think they all know.”
He kisses me possessively, groaning against my mouth as he presses me against the stone wall, my shoes clattering to the ground. My thoughts are a jumble, every emotion I have dialled up to the maximum as he takes my breath away. I run my fingers through his beard, allowing my thumbs to trace the edges of his jaw. The ring feels foreign and perfect all at the same time.
“I love you, Carolina.”
“I love you, too,” I murmur, letting him hold me up even as our kiss slows.
“So, we don’t actually need to go to supper, do we?” he asks, tugging me a little closer to his pelvis as if I didn’t already notice he’s raring to go.
“We most certainly do. I have something shiny to show off.”
I tilt my hand in the light, tearing up all over again when it catches the golden hour glow.
Jokingly, he rolls his eyes as he dips down to collect my heels and throws an arm over my shoulders to head back.
“Thank you. I couldn’t possibly carry those at the same time as this rock,” I laugh.
A friend from my program waves goodbye as she carries her baby son toward her car. Finding friends who weren’t twenty-two years old and ready to party every weekend was very lucky.
“Do you think we’ll need to hire someone when I start work this summer? ”
As much as I knew our schedules would change, I was so excited to begin my position as lead counsellor for a children’s grief day camp. Kids could spend time with other children experiencing loss and learning powerful coping skills that would allow them to process grief and learn they aren’t alone in their feelings. When Berg told me Natalie and Louisa attended a similar camp a couple of summers ago, even though it had been years since losing their mother, I immediately knew it was an area I wanted to explore for myself.
He shakes his head. “Nah, between the two of us and your parents, we’ve got this covered.”
I can see Louisa on my dad’s shoulders and Natalie on Chris’s as we reach everyone. Not able to hold back any longer, I lift my hand, beaming at my mom as I see the shock and excitement on her face.
We’re getting married.
Those little girls are ours to love.
A sense of belonging washes over me. Berg is right. Together, we can do anything.
***