Epilogue
January 1 st . . . one year later.
I had no idea how many adventures romance novels could take me on. But today, I am lost in the pages of my own love story.
A year had flown by. Paige had added to her and Max’s book of adventures. They’d gone horseback riding, to the opera, learned how to throw axes, and spent a week on a vacation where they took inspiration from some bestselling erotica. And that was just by March.
Lexi had been so excited that Paige was going to be her aunt that she’d insisted Paige come to her school as her special person for a presentation. That had prompted Max to leave a romance book on her nightstand about a couple who have a baby together.
Their parents had met and got along beautifully from the very start. They were total opposites, but somehow it worked. Max’s parents got her parents to try some finer things in life that her father had refused to ever do—yachting for one. Turned out he loved it. Paige’s mom loved it too. She video called Gretchen from the yacht just to see how she was doing. On the other hand, her parents introduced Max’s parents to comfort food and now Max’s mother regularly called Paige’s mom to discuss recipes.
However, the wedding was one adventure Paige had been worried about. Would Max’s parents insist on a big society wedding? Would her parents insist on hosting it in Kringle Falls? All her worry was for naught. Max came up with the ideal compromise. They were getting married at the ducal chapel on the Caldwell family’s estate in a small but meaningful ceremony. It had the small town feel her parents wanted with the sophistication and honoring tradition that Max’s parents wanted. And the guest list was comprised of only their family and friends, which is what she and Max wanted.
“Damn, I look good,” Eli said, checking himself out in the full-length mirror. “I’m digging the tails. Kenneth is going to love it.”
Leah came to stand by Eli in the bridal dressing room. “I still can’t believe you got Syd to design your wedding gown and the bridesmaids’ dresses,” she said of the top designer right now. “Noah might ravage me while you get married. That’s cool, right?”
“You mean your husband?” Paige asked teasingly.
“Hell yeah, he’s my husband. We’re still in our honeymoon phase so don’t come looking for me if I suddenly disappear.” Leah and Noah had gotten married one month previously in New York City. Paige had never seen her friend happier.
“Syd is a genius. I mean, you can’t even see my bump,” Amelia said, turning to look in the mirror.
“Girl, don’t hide my niece or nephew,” Eli said, looking meaningfully at Amelia’s very little baby bump. She and Felix had surprised them all by eloping during a Vegas Book Club weekend back in April. Luckily, Paige and Max had just gotten back from learning how to do a striptease—another adventure—when Amelia grabbed them and said that she was getting married right then and there. Now she was fourteen weeks along and glowing.
“Paige!” her mother called out, joining them. “The carriage is here.”
Paige and her friends worked to keep her wedding gown safely off the ground as they walked out to the waiting carriage pulled by four white horses. The carriage had been in the family for two hundred years.
They rode down the lane as people from the small village of Caldwell lined the drive and waved.
“This is wild, but I’m still not calling you duchess,” Eli told her.
“Yeah, not after we’ve been listening to Max say it for the past year. I swear, he says it as if it’s a secretly naughty, sexy nickname,” Leah added.
Paige waved and tried not to laugh because, while it was a sweet term of endearment, it was also very, very dirty. Just the thought of what he’d done to her the last time he’d called her that in that deep, dom voice of his had her blushing.
Soon the old stone chapel came into view. She could hear the processional music begin as her father took her arm. One by one, her friends walked down the aisle. Finally it was Paige’s turn.
In the story of her life, Paige would always remember the sight of the chapel lit by candlelight and Max standing at the altar, waiting for her. His eyes were full of love. His smile was full of promise. His voice was deep, sure, and strong as he vowed to love her for the rest of their lives.
However, unlike in the romance books Paige read, this was not the end of the story. This was only the beginning of their story, just waiting to be written on the blank pages of the book Max had given her a year ago.
Thank you for coming on this adventure with me.