Epilogue
One year later...
When Ford saw his mother standing on the deck, looking out at the sea, he left the other guests at the party and went to stand
next to her. “That’s quite a view, isn’t it?”
“Gorgeous,” she agreed.
“Are you starting to have second thoughts about selling your interest in this place to me?” he asked. According to the trust,
she was supposed to get a portion of the sale proceeds, but she’d agreed to let him buy her out at market prices.
“No. Coastal Comfort is where you belong,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy. And Houston needed his interest
in this place to pay his legal fees. At least I still get to come visit.” She lifted the champagne flute she held in one hand and clinked it against his. “I’m glad you’re
keeping it. I’m also glad Paris didn’t get her filthy paws on it.”
His father’s widow had driven a hard bargain, but he’d managed to work out a settlement with her that they could all live
with.
He jerked his head in the general direction of Lucy, who was in the living room holding her own champagne flute, talking to her friend, Missy, who’d come out from Las Vegas, and her father, who’d extended the lease on the Smoot cottage because he, too, wanted to remain in North Hampton Beach—close to them. “Lucy and I both love it here,” Ford told his mother. “We’ll have to get a place in the city soon, of course, so I can be closer to the office. But we should be able to spend most of our summers here.”
“Has she sold her condo in Vegas yet?”
Christina had gotten the DC apartment in the divorce, so he hadn’t needed to sell that. He didn’t mind seeing the apartment
go, but it had been hard to give up Mo. Fortunately, the dog seemed happier with her than he’d been. “Not yet. We just put it on the market last week.”
The wind stirred his mother’s hair; she lifted a hand to keep it out of her face. “Are you sure she won’t regret leaving her
poker playing days behind?”
“She might play an online game now and then. But she’s ready for a change, something new. She wants to go to school and earn
a degree in finance.”
“Finance?” Sara said. “I’d be terrible at that.”
“I know,” he said drily.
When she shot him a dirty look, they both laughed.
“Lucy’s also interested in art history,” he said. “Maybe she’ll go for that instead. I want her to have the chance to do all
the things she never got to do when she was younger.”
“You spoil that woman,” she said, but the smile on her face indicated she knew it was because of how much he loved her, and
she was happy for him.
“She spoils me, too,” he responded with a shrug.
His mother took a sip of her champagne. “This has been a nice party. Even the Clarks showed up. And calling it an engagement
party was a lot more tasteful than telling everyone we’re celebrating the fact that your divorce is now final. Thank you for
that.”
He laughed again. “Have you talked to Houston lately?”
“I write or go see him every week. You?”
Ironically, Houston was incarcerated at Red Onion Prison, where Mick had served time. “I’m not quite that diligent, but I’m staying in touch.”
“If he behaves himself, it won’t be long until he gets out.”
It would probably be five years, but it’d be a lot longer for Claxton, who’d gotten life without parole—so he’d never get out—and Chet, who’d gotten fifty years but had to serve a minimum of thirty.
“Have you and Lucy set a date?” she asked.
“We’re thinking sometime in May. I don’t want to wait too long because I have the perfect wedding present for her.”
His mother’s eyebrows slid up. “What’s that?”
“I managed to track down the baseball card collection Tony Matteo wanted her to have. It cost me a pretty penny, but I know
it’ll mean more to her than jewelry or anything else.”
“How’d you manage to find that?” she asked in surprise.
“Lester Friedman has to be about the best investigator in the world.”
“He must be,” she agreed.
The door opened, and Lucy stepped out with a bottle of champagne. “Would either of you like a little more?”
His mother held out her glass, and Lucy topped it off. “Kira and Kenzie are about to leave,” she murmured to him. “I wanted
to let you know so you could say goodbye.”
“I’m glad you did,” he said and took Lucy’s hand as they went back inside.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, taking a moment to check in with her before they could encounter another one of their guests.
“Are you having a good time?”
She stopped walking and turned to slip her arms around his neck. “It’s been a wonderful party. But it doesn’t take a party or anything else to make me happy. You know that. I’m content just to be with you,” she said, and he buried his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of the woman he loved—and nearly lost.
“Things could’ve gone so differently,” he said. “That I get to spend the rest of my life with you, after all, makes me feel
like the luckiest man in the world.”
* * * * *