Epilogue Hunter
Epilogue
Hunter
When Ed told me he hadn’t bought Katherine a wedding present, I knew exactly how to solve his problem.
“You think they’ll like it?” I take the three steps down from the porch and turn to face the property we just viewed. It’s September, but the house still feels like summer inside. Maybe it’s the big sky above us, or the ocean in front of us, but it feels kind of magical.
“I think we should show it to them first,” Ed says. “I don’t want to be making purchases like this without talking to my wife about it.”
“You’re totally right. They have to see it before we buy it. It’s going to be in all our names anyway.”
“Right,” Ed says. “I thought for a second there you were thinking we should buy it as a surprise.”
“I value my nuts,” I reply. “I’m not making financial decisions like this without speaking to Lucy.” My cell starts to ring. “Speaking of.”
“Hey,” she says. “We got back to the house and the car is gone. Where are you?”
“We’re about a mile down the road. Is Katherine there?” I glance at Ed, getting his go-ahead to invite the girls over right now. There’s no time like the present, right?
“Yeah, of course. You want me to put her on?” she asks.
“No, it’s not that. But could you meet us? We’ve got something to show you.”
“Sounds ominous.”
“Not at all. You’ll see.” I give her directions, which doesn’t take long because we’re just up the street.
Ed’s staring at me as if I’m about to tell him something he didn’t just hear on the phone.
“What are we going to say?” he asks.
I shrug. “I can say something about how the love story between Lucy and me started here. About how Martha’s Vineyard was an incubator of our love and that we want that warm, soft, safe environment to be with us on our journey—”
I stop short, in part because it looks like Ed is going to give himself a hernia trying not to laugh, and in part because Lucy pulls into the drive.
She and Katherine are dipping their heads so they can take in the house through the windshield.
They turn to each other and exchange words before getting out of the car at the same time.
“Shall we buy it?” Lucy asks immediately, leaving my romantic speech about our love in pieces over her shoulder. “Is it for sale?”
“Oh, heck, it’s right on the beach,” Katherine says, looking out over the water. “The location is just perfect.”
I glance at Ed. Why was he nervous about what to say? We didn’t have to say anything at all.
“I thought maybe it could be a wedding present,” Ed says to Katherine.
“But for the four of us,” Katherine says without missing a beat. “I mean, the four of us have to buy it together, right?”
Ed laughs. “Right. Actually, there’s enough land on this plot to grow into. So further down the line, if we wanted to build a second property or demolish this and start again and build something bigger . . .”
“But this is darling. From the outside, anyway,” Lucy says. The outside of the property needs sprucing up a little. Some of the paint is peeling, and the deck needs revarnishing. If she likes it outside, she’s going to love it inside.
“Can we go in?” Her face lights up. I never get tired of seeing her happy.
We all head inside, and I can tell by the way Lucy doesn’t say anything that she’s blown away. She grabs my hand and squeezes. “Look at these counters,” she says, eyeing the pale marble in the kitchen. “From the outside, I expected it to be a fixer-upper.”
“The family who had the place was just putting the finishing touches on it when they had to relocate for work. Everything’s newly refurbished apart from the outside.”
“So what’s the plan?” Lucy asks. “Who does Ed need to bang to get us this house?”
I chuckle while Ed looks on, his mouth open, expression horrified.
“Ed says he hasn’t found the right wedding present for Katherine yet, and I’m going to need to find one for you as well. So . . . we thought the house.”
“Let’s explore,” Lucy says. She leads us through the house, she and Katherine exclaiming over the views and the layout. Upstairs, the four bedrooms are beautiful, with en suite bathrooms in the two primaries and a Jack and Jill between the other two.
Ed and I are on the landing when we hear Lucy’s outraged voice from one of the guest rooms. “I don’t believe it,” she says.
“That’s it! There’s no freaking way I can stay in this house.
” We stumble into the room to see what the problem is, expecting to see a nest of vipers or a collapsed ceiling or something.
I scan the room. I can’t see what they’re talking about. Katherine looks concerned and Lucy looks furious.
“What’s the problem?” I ask. Ed and I have scoured the real estate listings over the last couple of months to find something on the beach. Properties like this don’t come up a lot. This house is perfect, with room to grow too.
“Seriously, Katherine. You can’t make me. I can’t bear it.”
“What?” I ask, trying to make sense of what’s going on.
“We’ll strip it off before we move in,” Katherine says.
“What?” I ask, looking around for the lead piping or asbestos tile. What on earth has Lucy spotted that Ed and I didn’t see on our first tour through here?
“Well, we’d better. I’m not stepping a foot into this house again while that wallpaper is here.”
“You don’t like the wallpaper?” I ask, trying to connect the dots between her reaction and the innocuous, beachy motif on the walls. Three lighthouses are spaced at intervals around the room. I really don’t see the problem.
“Of course I don’t like the wallpaper,” Lucy says, like her reaction is entirely rational. I scan the walls, trying to figure out what’s so offensive.
Katherine and Lucy exchange a glance. Lucy turns to me. Katherine turns to Ed. “It’s perfect,” they say in unison.
I have no idea what the hell is going on, but relief runs through me, and I start to laugh. “You’re always so surprising, Lucy Jones. But I’m glad you like it.”
“But seriously, we need to change that wallpaper,” Lucy says.
“If that’s what will make you happy, then that’s what we will do.” Lucy’s happiness is my priority now. And I’m her priority. We’re both looking out for each other. We’re each other’s safe harbor. The rudder in each other’s boat. I’ve never felt so safe and sure about . . . life.
“There’s one condition, though,” Katherine says. “No one gets to use the house unless we’re here. We can’t have Mom and Dad in this place without us, or Mom will have re-papered the entire house in this wallpaper or something worse.”
“Agreed,” we all say together.
I’m not sure whether it’s just because I’m spending more time with her or because she seems to have changed a little, but I like Katherine more than I did when she and Ed were just dating or engaged.
Maybe I’ve changed. Now she’s not the person keeping Ed from being chained to his desk twenty-four hours a day.
She’s now the woman who makes my best friend happy and the sister of the love of my life.
“This is our place,” Lucy says, wrapping her arms around my waist. “It’s where our love story started. It’s where I started to believe that I could love someone and they might love me back.”
My heart balloons in my chest as I pull her closer.
Being with Lucy has made me more me. A better version of myself.
A version capable and worthy of the woman in my arms. And I get to be with her forever.
I think that makes me the luckiest man alive.
“And it’s where we’ll spend the rest of our lives living our love story. ”