Epilogue
Levi | 3 Years Later
T he garden smells like heaven itself has breathed through the outdoor space.
It looks like it, too.
Peonies are everywhere. Bursting in every shade of pink, red, and white. Thick with the hum of bees and the low murmur of the voices gathering for this incredible day.
Brody’s backyard has never looked as magical as it does tonight. Just before the sun goes down, so we can bask in the golden hour. It’s like something out of a dream.
I adjust the cuffs of my shirt, tugging once at the collar, like it might help me breathe a little easier.
It doesn't.
Ghost claps a heavy hand on my shoulder, steady as ever.
"You nervous?" he asks under his breath.
I huff out a laugh.
"I’m fine," I lie.
I liked it better when he wouldn’t talk. Ghost, for being the less chatty of our crew, has the very distinct ability to read people like no other.
He just grins and moves to take his place next to the rest of my groomsmen.
Gramps is standing under the wooden arch Brody had specifically built for the ceremony, shuffling through a stack of handwritten note cards, cursing under his breath about forgetting his damn glasses.
He’s wearing a suit for probably the first time in twenty years and looks about as uncomfortable as a grizzly bear forced to sit through a formal dinner party.
But when he catches me looking, he winks.
"You sure you don’t wanna run?" he teases loud enough for me to hear. “Might be your last chance. Heard the bride’s kind of a hard ass.”
I shake my head, heart thudding hard against my ribs.
Not a fucking chance.
Julian’s in the second row, one arm draped across his new boyfriend’s back; a sweet guy named Mateo who looks like he’s seconds away from crying like he’s known us his entire life. Like I said, sweet guy.
Kick and Jun Yu are juggling their twin toddlers, who keep trying to eat the flower petals pre-scattered along the aisle. I love seeing them become parents and navigate married life while raising two feral little boys.
And Josie loves those kids, as if they were her own siblings.
Theo stands next to me, a little taller these days, a little stronger too, with a hand resting casually on my back and steadying me the way only a son could know to do.
No words. Just presence.
His girlfriend waves her fingers at him from the front row, and he blows her a kiss. I pretend not to notice him doing it, he hates when I tease him about how soft he’s gotten since dating Daisy. Yeah, that’s her name. Theo my son who loves tattoos and danger, is falling hard for a girl who cries for him to stop whenever she sees a squirrel trying to cross a road.
I won’t tell him to his face, but being in a relationship really does suits him. Now that he knows who he is.
The violinists start playing a beautifully haunting number, dragging my attention away from the people around me over to the entrance to the path of the garden. And there, clutching a basket twice the size of her head, is my daughter, Josie.
She takes careful, measured steps down the aisle, scattering flower petals in methodical handfuls, smiling each time she throws—just like we practiced.
When Josie reaches me, she hands me one of the last of the petals. I crouch down and take it from her, kissing the top of her head of curls.
"Good job, bug," I whisper.
She smiles, missing two of her front teeth, and then scampers to stand with Kick, Jun Yu, and the boys. Leaving me standing there with a heart so full I seriously don't know how it's still beating.
And then the music changes. Everyone turns. And I remember exactly why.
My woman.
Her hair is braided with tiny white flowers, her dress simple but beautiful, clinging to every curve like it was made just for her.
At her side, is the man who at one time made it nearly impossible for us to be together. But today, he leads her to me, back straight and he’s beaming proudly as he walks her down the aisle.
My eyes water at the sight of her and I clear my throat quickly before someone passes me a tissue and makes me lose the bet I made with her a few nights ago.
But when she looks up at me, her smile radiating warmth from behind her bouquet of white peonies… I’m so done for.
The second she reaches me, the whole world narrows down to the way her hand slides into mine.
The way her eyes shine as they take me in.
The way that smile of hers absolutely wrecks me.
Gramps clears his throat, abandoning the notecards he was rummaging through earlier and pulling a crumpled paper out of his pocket.
"Alright, everyone. Let’s make this quick before Sienna realizes she's settling with an old man."
Laughter ripples through the garden.
But I barely register what he just said. I’m too busy memorizing her. Making sure this moment is seared into my brain for the rest of forever.
Sienna says her vows first. She’s shaking a little, but her voice is steady.
"Levi, I used to think fate was something that happened in cheesy pirate romance novels.”
I crack a smile and she does too.
“Don’t sleep on the pirate smut,” Julian calls out from the crowd.
There’s another wave of laughter.
“I never imagined that it could be something that was meant for me. Not until the day I walked into your shop and found home in a pair of rough, calloused hands and a heart that refused to quit on anyone in his world."
She smiles through her tears. And I won’t mention it at this moment to her, but I’ll remind her later… she definitely cried first.
"Despite what you might think,” she continues. “You’re not perfect, Levi.”
That earns her some agreement from the guys behind me. I give them a side-eye glance and they all shut up.
“But you’re perfect for me," she says, in almost a whisper.
My eyes stay on those perfect lips of hers, wanting her to say those words again and again on repeat. And when I look around, I see the sea of cell phones capturing the moment and realize that I can.
I clear my throat because it’s goddamn mess by the time it’s my turn.
"Sienna, I didn’t know what living was," I tell her, voice a little more raw than I expected it to be while doing this.
"Not until you. You were the first breath I took after drowning for so long. You’re the risk I’ll take a thousand times over. You’re the life I didn’t think I could ever deserve. And I swear to you, Angel. Every day we get, I’ll spend loving you better than the day before."
Gramps sniffs hard and mutters something about allergies.
"Alright, alright," he says gruffly. "By the power vested in me by some online certification that may or may not be real... I now pronounce you husband and wife. Steele, will you kiss your girl so we can watch King squirm?"
I don’t hesitate. I kind of want to make King squirm.
I pull her into me, crushing my mouth against hers, feeling the whole garden erupt in cheers and whistles all around us.
When I finally break away, Sienna’s laughing and crying all at once.
"You’re stuck with me now, Angel," I murmur against her lips.
"Good," she breathes back. "Because I’m not letting you go."
The rest of the night blurs into hugs, dances, stolen kisses under the trees glowing with hanging lights.
I watch as our friends and family dance. Kids chase each other through the flowers. And I hold my wife close, swaying to the slower music that’s now on.
She looks up at me, through hooded eyes.
“What?” I say, wondering what sexy thing she’s about to tell me.
“You lost,” she says.
I pull back just slightly. And when she just purses her lips when I give her my look of utter confusion, I say, “No, way. You cried first.”
“Mmm mm,” she hums out.
“You did, I was standing right in front of you.
“Levi Steele, everyone saw you. Everyone.”
I scoff. I can’t believe these traitors.
“I almost… almost shed a tear.”
“So all this talk about, ‘Levi was a mess. His eyes were watering the whole time.’ None of that is true?”
“Eyes watering ,” I clarify for her. “That’s not the same thing as crying.”
“You two fighting already?” Brody says, handing us each a glass of water. “Ink hasn’t even dried yet on the marriage certificate.”
Milo comes trudging over to us. I pat his loyal little head.
“You know what,” Sienna says, sounding resolute. “Let’s let Brody decide.”
Brody shoots me a look that says What did you get me into?
Sienna’s about to explain to him our predicament when a woman with dark, almost black hair comes storming down the garden path towards us.
She’s dripping wet from head to toe in a cocktail dress and no shoes on her feet. Her brows are furrowed together as she stomps toward us, water squishing under each step.
“Brody- motherfucking -King!”
Brody turns around at the mention of his name, and the moment he sees her, he runs a hand down his face and sighs out, “Ah, shit.”
The woman has everyone’s attention now. The music’s stopped and there are murmurs spreading through the peaceful garden.
“King?” I ask the question on everyone’s mind. “Who the hell is that?”
She stops just a few feet short of where we stand. Her shoulders hunched and her hands fisted, she says with a dark edge in her voice, “ I’m. His. Wife!”
The love doesn’t end here…