Epilogue - Three Months Later - Ivy
T he air smells faintly of roses and rain. Somewhere beyond the ivy-draped archway, I can hear the murmur of voices, friends, family, people who have been waiting for this almost as long as we have.
The rooftop garden is a patch of green against the city’s glass-and-steel edges, strung with lights that glow even in the late afternoon sun. It feels like our own little pocket of the world, suspended above the noise.
I smooth my dress, fingertips grazing the silk. My heart is a drum in my chest, steady and loud.
“Ready?” Sienna peeks in, grinning like she already knows the answer.
“As I’ll ever be,” I say. But my eyes drift past her, toward the aisle I can’t see yet. Toward Jack.
Emma is waiting with the rest of the wedding party, pale blue dress swaying around her knees, hair pulled back in a braid threaded with tiny white flowers. She catches my gaze and lifts the velvet ring box just enough for me to see it. My throat tightens.
When the music starts, the world narrows to the steps in front of me. The guests stand, but I barely see them. I only see Jack.
He’s in a dark suit, crisp and impossibly sharp, but it’s not the clothes that catch me, it’s the way he’s looking at me. Like I’m the only thing here. Like I’m the reason the sky decided to stay clear.
My pulse steadies as I reach him.
“Hi,” I breathe.
“Hi,” he says, like the word means mine .
The officiant begins, but the words blur. I hear them, but they’re just the scaffolding for everything happening in my chest.
When it’s time for vows, Jack goes first.
“I’ve spent most of my life building walls,” he says, his voice low but certain.
“Some to keep people out, some to keep myself in. You walked right through them without even knowing you were doing it. You made me see the difference between surviving and living. Between being alone and having a family. You and Emma…” his eyes flick briefly to her, then back to me “…are my home. And I swear to keep you safe, to love you hard, and to never let you forget that you’re mine. Always.”
I can’t breathe for a moment. Then I smile through it, even as my eyes sting.
“My life before you was… quiet in all the wrong ways,” I say.
“I didn’t know what it was to be seen, really seen, until you.
You challenge me, you infuriate me, and you’ve made me braver than I thought I could be.
You’ve given me a place, and a person, and a family.
I promise to stand beside you, to fight with you and for you, and to love you for every day I have. ”
Emma steps forward with the rings. She hands Jack mine first, then passes me his. Her hands are steady, but when she glances up at me, her mouth curves, small, but there.
Jack slides the ring onto my finger, his touch lingering just a little too long. I do the same, feeling the warm weight of the band against his skin.
“You may kiss the bride,” the officiant says.
Jack doesn’t hesitate. His hands frame my face, and the kiss is everything, relief, joy, possession, and promise, all at once. The applause around us is a blur.
The reception moves inside, tables lit with candles and low bowls of flowers. We dance, we laugh, Emma teases Jack about how long he kissed me in front of everyone.
***
Later, I find Jack in a quieter corner, drink in hand, tie loosened, watching me like he’s cataloging every second.
“Married,” I say, stepping into him.
“Mine,” he corrects softly, leaning in until our foreheads touch. “I love you.”
I smile, because it’s the easiest truth in the world. “I love you too.”
His mouth tips toward my ear, his voice low enough that no one else could possibly hear. “You have no idea how badly I want to get you alone right now.”
Heat sparks in my chest. “That so?”
His gaze drops, slowly, deliberately, to the curve of my neckline, then back to my mouth. “I’ve been thinking about you in that dress all day. And how much I’m going to enjoy taking it off you.”
A shiver runs through me. “Then you’d better dance with me once more before you ruin my hair.”
His grin is pure sin. “Oh, sweetheart… your hair won’t be the only thing I ruin.”
And then he pulls me onto the floor, holding me close, his eyes promising that the night, and everything after, is just beginning.
The End