EPILOGUE
Ellery
“You know you could have picked anywhere in the world to do this.”
“I know,” I murmur against his lips. He pulls me into him and just holds on to me in the one place I’ve never felt safer. “But this is where I wanted to be. The place that started it all for us.”
The late-afternoon sun makes the sand look whiter and the color of the flowers more vibrant. The beach beyond the Azure has been transformed into a paradise that even I couldn’t believe when I saw it earlier today.
Fairy lights strewn about. In the trees. On the tables. A dance floor in the sand. A small gathering of those who we love the most . . . and my brothers. We’re still a work in progress, but at least the word progress is in there. At least there’s that.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Ford looks at me, love reflecting in every facet of his expression. “I still can’t believe it.” He brushes his lips against mine.
“Me either.”
“You ready, Mrs. Sharpe?”
That name.
It’s mine now.
Or rather, it’s been mine now for a total of four hours and three minutes, and if it feels this good already, I can’t wait to see what a lifetime of being Mrs. Sharpe feels like.
I’m married.
Married to Fordham Sharpe no less.
The woman who feared love, who pushed it away, can’t imagine not having this love for this man.
And now he’s my forever, and we’re about to start our journey together.
I peek out the curtains to take in our guests lining each side of the walkway that leads to our awaiting limousine. Fordham takes my hand and smiles as he opens the door.
The rush of noise hits us. Laughter and cheers and whoops as we step outside.
How did we get here?
“Let’s do this,” Ford says with a squeeze of my hand, and we take the first steps toward our forever.
The rain and wind virtually knock me off my feet as I push into the inn. Chandler rambles in my ear about a project he’s working on as if I’m not braving a tropical storm and trying to avoid being a lightning rod.
“Hello? Did you hear me?” I repeat for what feels like the tenth time. He’s not listening to me, so wrapped up in his own self. “Closed. We’re stuck.”
“Brilliant observation. There’s a reason we’re all sitting in here, and it’s not because of the ambiance,” the man mutters to the left of me, as I drop my bag into a heap on the floor beside the only open barstool in this godforsaken place.
“I don’t believe I was speaking to you,” I snap. Mind your own business, buddy.
“Good. Great. Wait. They closed the roads?”
It’s then that I look over and meet the eyes of the moody asshole giving me his two cents when I didn’t ask for it. Chandler blathers on in my ear, but I don’t hear a word he says because I’m too busy being knocked on my ass by the pair of stunning amber eyes.
By the man sitting before me who makes my pulse jump.
We pass Callahan and Sutton. Their two girls, Maxine and Carly, are dressed in frilly white dresses with flower crowns in their curly hair.
Sutton reaches out and squeezes my hand, her smile reassuring and welcoming, while Callahan high-fives his brother and says something that makes them both laugh.
“C’mon, Celery Ellery. Take a chance on me. Take a chance with me.” He holds his hand out—the hand he withheld from my brother’s handshake. “Deal, partner?”
“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this,” I groan as a thrill of excitement shoots through me.
“Is that a yes?”
I meet his eyes, take in his smile, and reach out to shake his hand. What the hell am I doing? “Yes.”
Ledger and Asher are next. They’re standing with grins on their faces. Asher is holding their two-month-old son, Oliver, in her arms. He’s sound asleep as Ledger wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him.
“Have fun!” Asher whisper-shouts as she throws a handful of something in the air that falls all around us.
“Celery Ellery.”
“Fordham the University,” I say back to him with a straight face—since he seems so damn serious—before I start laughing.
He jumps onto the bed and tackle-hugs me, tickling me until I’m breathless and pushing him off me.
His lips meet mine in the tenderest of kisses. “I had all kinds of plans for this. Elaborate ones. They were put in motion and have been on standby for weeks. For the right time. But . . . it’s burning a hole in my pocket, and I don’t want to wait anymore.”
“Ford.” His name is a warning and a plea of hope.
He scrambles up and straddles me, his shy smile owning my heart.
“I can give you the world in any capacity you wish. I could buy you anything you want, whisk you away to some far-off destination, or have fireworks write it in the sky. I could take out an ad in Times Square or devise some elaborate scavenger hunt for you . . . but I don’t think any of that would matter to you.
Pomp and circumstance aren’t your thing .
. . because from day one for you, it’s always been about us.
You see the real me. You saw it and still let me in.
Marry me, Ellery. Marry me, and let’s write that epilogue together and then live it out. ”
I smile through the tears. I knew this was coming at some point. We’ve talked about it and joked about it, and I knew it was inevitable. But even knowing about it didn’t prepare me for the rush of emotion hearing his words and looking into his eyes is causing.
He reaches over and slides a ring box out from under his pillow. When he opens it up, a gorgeous oval-shaped solitaire sits nestled in the blue velvet case.
But he’s right. I don’t care about the pomp and circumstance or the sparkle before me. All I see is him. All I want is him.
“Your silence is killing me here, Ellery.”
“I think I had an answer that first night we met. It might have taken me a while to acknowledge it, but—”
“But thank fuck you did. So?”
“Yes. Of course, it’s yes. How could it be anything different?”
Garland gives me the slightest of nods as I pass, and I reach out to squeeze his hand. My mom’s sapphire ring that he had held on to and gave to me as my something blue reflects in the soft light.
We high-five a few other friends, past the cardboard cutout of a life-size Chris Hemsworth that Ford thought was an important throwback to the first night we met, before stopping at the end of the walkway.
Funny how you can meet someone in the oddest of times to find out they give you the advice, the hope, and the will to change something that you haven’t had the strength to change before.
It’s then and only then that I realize what’s being thrown at us. It’s not the traditional rice, it’s Chex Mix sans pretzels.
I pluck one off Ford’s lapel and throw my head back and laugh. He picks me up and spins me around. “Only the best for you, Celery Ellery.”
When we stop, I slide down his front as he lowers me to the ground, our lips meeting again.
“You once told me to show you a man who knows love and romance isn’t always about grand gestures and you’d marry him.” He pops a piece of Chex Mix between my lips and then motions to everyone here to celebrate us. “Lucky for me, you’re a woman of your word.”
“Always. Forever. Only you, Ford. Only us.”
He meets my eyes. Tears glisten in them as our driver pulls open the car door. Ford motions to the open door. “Our epilogue begins right now.”