Epilogue
They married in the spring, in an outdoor ceremony on the grounds of the Old Road Hotel, with the reception in the newly refurbished ballroom.
Scarlett stood in front of an ornate, gilded mirror, admiring the fall of her gown. She’d chosen a simple A-line dress with a plunging V neckline made of Mikado silk. The only ornamentation was a floppy bow at the base of her spine, leading into a small train. The heavier fabric with a subtle sheen gave the almost plain dress a luxurious feel.
Her bouquet would be the centerpiece. In honor of her orchids being destroyed during the crime, Scarlett decided to create an elegant bouquet of white and blush Phalaenopsis orchids, with a few roses and lily of the valley accents throughout. The bouquet trailed down to a point below her hands, putting the blooms as the showpiece of her outfit.
“Gorgeous,” Camilla said, hands clasped at her breast.
“You are seriously talented,” Lucy agreed.
“Beautiful,” Amelia added.
Scarlett met each of her bridesmaids’ gazes in the mirror, then turned around to face them. “I think I’m ready.”
“Good, because it’s time to go,” Amelia said, checking her tablet. The blond woman had been invaluable in keeping the day on schedule. Scarlett would have to thank her properly somehow—maybe by hiring her to do that digitizing of Scarlett’s inventory system. Amelia had been pestering Scarlett for months to let her do it.
They left the bridal suite and headed for the elevators. The silk of Scarlett’s dress whispered on the carpeted floors as her bridesmaids’ crepe dresses danced around their legs.
Butterflies flapped in Scarlett’s stomach. She was minutes away from marrying the man of her dreams. As the elevator doors opened to let them in, she thought of the months that had passed since the murder. Archer had spent most nights at her house, and they’d started making plans to redecorate his place. It was bigger and in a slightly better location, so it would make sense to move there eventually.
In the meantime, though, living in Scarlett’s tiny cottage felt like a bubble of comfort and love. Sleeping next to Archer and waking up to the smell of coffee he’d prepared for her were sweet, simple pleasures that Scarlett hadn’t expected to enjoy so much.
He’d told her about his confrontation with Jackson in the week that followed Frank Smith’s arrest. At first, she’d been offended and angry at what her ex had said. She didn’t enjoy being the “smart one.” She didn’t think less of Archer for not having a college degree. Archer had held her, kissed her temple, and told her he knew that. He wouldn’t ever doubt it again.
Jackson had left town, and she hadn’t heard anything from him since. That part of her life was over. She was grateful for Archer, because if Jackson had arrived when she was feeling alone and vulnerable, she didn’t know if she would’ve had the strength to walk away from her past so decisively.
She and Archer started a new life together. One where they had each other’s backs. They trusted each other. It felt almost indulgent to be with a man who made her feel this good.
It helped that their central role in the drama associated with Ethel’s murder made them minor celebrities in town. Business boomed for both of them, even in the winter months that were usually slow in both the construction and floral businesses.
As the police completed their investigation and the trial began to make its way into the news, the residents of Stirling learned that both Ollie Patz and Frank Smith had been in romantic relationships with Ethel Brown. Frank had started seeing her years before, shortly after they’d conceived of the counterfeiting scheme that saw her son arrested.
She’d grown bored of Frank and moved on to Ollie. The younger man lavished her with gifts and money, nearly bankrupting himself in the process. He never stopped insisting that they were in love, and they were going to move away together as soon as they could get away from Frank, but Scarlett had her doubts. As far as she saw it, Ethel Brown was a woman who used the people around her. She sucked the life out of them and then left them behind when they were no use to her anymore.
She’d done it to her own sister and her son, and all the other associates that had been involved in her schemes. Ollie and Frank just happened to be the last in a long line of her marks. That she became romantically involved with both of them at the same time was her final act of hubris.
Frank admitted to following Ollie and Ethel when he became suspicious of their relationship. He saw them break into Pushing Daisies and noticed the toolbox in the bed of Archer’s truck wasn’t closed properly. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a wrench and went after them.
Now, Frank and Ollie were behind bars, and Ethel and all her associates were either locked up or dead. It seemed like the police had finally excised the rot from the town.
“I can’t believe you were Ethel’s neighbor,” Scarlett said to Amelia as the elevator took them down to the ground floor.
“Ethel got away with a lot for a long time, but she got her comeuppance in the end,” Amelia said. “They could have kept up their little thievery ring and no one would have been the wiser. I lived next to her for years and I had no idea.”
“Now is not the time to think about that horrible woman,” Camilla chided. “It’s all over now.”
“Thanks to Frankie Smith,” Lucy added.
Camilla cracked a smile. “Never thought I’d actually agree with that sentence, but yes. I just wish it hadn’t happened in Scarlett’s shop.”
“And with Archer’s wrench,” Lucy said.
“I don’t know,” Scarlett cut in, admiring a particularly perfect orchid in her bouquet. “If it hadn’t happened, Archer and I wouldn’t be together.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Amelia said in a no-nonsense voice. “You always would have ended up together, one way or another.”
Scarlett smiled. She wasn’t sure she agreed—they’d both needed big pushes to get over their fears and decide to be together—but she liked the thought of it anyway. Like their union was predestined somehow. It was comforting.
She followed her bridesmaids through the hotel and out to the grounds at the back of the big building. White chairs had been set up in neat rows, gauzy fabric lining the aisle. Bunches of flowers in white, pink, and red lined the rows of seats, with an arch bursting with blooms serving as the altar.
It had cost her and Archer a fortune to have so many flowers, even at wholesale prices. But it was perfect. As the music picked up and her bridesmaids began the procession down the aisle in front of her, Scarlett’s heart began to thump. Her palms were sweaty as they gripped the ribbon around her bouquet, but she couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she stepped outside when it was her turn.
Archer stood at the other end of the aisle, his eyes glazed with unshed tears, the emotion right there on the surface. Scarlett’s smile widened.
Movement drew her attention to her left, where Ralph stepped into view. The old man had trimmed his beard and cleaned up very nicely in his charcoal gray suit and shiny black shoes. He cleared his throat. “You sure about this, Scarlett?”
Scarlett’s heart warmed. She dipped her chin. “There’s no one else I’d rather have walk me down the aisle, Ralph.”
He cleared his throat, his own eyes going misty. But he didn’t protest. Instead, he held out his arm for Scarlett to take, and the two of them faced the petal-strewn aisle so she could walk down to meet her soon-to-be husband.
They didn’t have a huge guest list, but all their friends were there. Archer had made the difficult decision not to invite his family to the wedding. He’d finally started putting up boundaries with them, not sticking around when they treated him badly. The consequence had been very limited contact with them all. It saddened Scarlett that neither of them had supportive families, but she’d seen Archer become more comfortable and happier as the weeks and months went by with less interference from his judgmental relations.
Besides, they’d found their own family. The women and men standing up there beside them as they tied the knot were all the support they needed.
The walk down the aisle was both interminable and over in a flash. Thankful she hadn’t tripped on the way, Scarlett handed her bouquet off, kissed a flushing Ralph on the cheek, then slipped her hands into Archer’s.
“You look so beautiful,” he whispered.
She smiled. “Not bad yourself,” she whispered back.
The ceremony started, and Scarlett managed to stay dry-eyed until the vows, when it hit her that she was marrying the man of her dreams, and he was just as in love with her as she was with him.
When it came time to kiss, Archer’s lips curled into a devilish smile. “No going back now,” he told her quietly.
“Good,” she replied, “because this is exactly where I want to be.”
He wrapped his arms around her and dipped her so far back she had to cling to his shoulders, and then he kissed her like no one was watching.
Then they straightened, laughing, and led their guests to the ballroom to celebrate the best day of their lives.