Epilogue
Wren
I t had been a little over a year since Daniel Campbell practically barged into my operating room—it didn’t happen exactly like that, but for effect, that sounded better in my head. After all, I was currently sitting in a movie premiere, waiting for Daniel to return to his seat.
We were in Los Angeles for a few days, a planned vacation at his— our , he kept insisting—house with the most perfect backyard, for the release of Eagle . Just a few moments ago, during the Q and A held for VIPs, Daniel had answered the question, “Why did you change the name of the original movie if this is a remake?”
“Well, I convinced them to do it after shooting the hole-in-one scene. It’s such an epic shot and it really changed the direction of my character’s life. You will see, he had been there before. And while he made the shot, his life went south. The second time, he learned his lesson. There is something about a single perfect shot. You don’t usually get a second chance at that, but when you do, you’d better grab onto it.”
He looked at me the whole time, staring into my eyes, and I knew the words were meant for me.
“Hey,” he whispered now as he slid into the seat next to me. “Anyone tell you that you look hot as hell?”
I laughed to myself. “Yeah, you,” I joked back.
“Good. I don’t want anyone else telling you.”
I’d had a whole day of pampering at the house. A stylist and hair and makeup person arrived early this morning with a whole myriad of dresses and shoes.
His fingers wove through mine and he added, “Thanks for coming.”
“Well, I wanted to be one of the firsts to see the movie,” I whispered.
“I offered a million times to show you at home, on the couch with Rourke and Betty, comfy with popcorn.” He spoke stoically, and I wondered if I said something wrong.
I didn’t think it had offended him, my waiting to see the premiere. “Betty would have stolen all my snacks…”
This had Daniel quietly laughing, and I could feel the rumble in his chest all the way through his fingers.
Betty was a six-year-old, seventy-six-pound chocolate Lab who’d starred as Daniel’s dog at the end of Eagle when his character settles down. The dog-man duo fell in love with one another, and then Daniel caught wind that Betty was ready for retirement. One morning I went to work and she wasn’t at our place, and that evening she was. Apparently, Betty flew in with Jerry, who was tying up some loose ends at the club, and Daniel picked her up.
“I would have made Betty her own snacks,” Daniel admitted.
“I know,” I said while squeezing his hand. “But I wanted to see the movie on the big screen, not with Betty’s butt in the way.”
“She would never stick her butt in your face.”
If there was one female I was jealous of, it might be Betty. Daniel adored her and allowed her to do as she pleased. Rourke didn’t seem to mind her either, always snuggling up to her. Whatever she had going on, I should borrow from her—she had all the boys in the yard coming around.
Leaning in, I kissed Daniel’s cheek. “It’s been a great week…I mean, out of the cold.”
“I knew you were using me for the house out here,” he teased right back at me.
“I needed to get you away from Betty…”
“Shh. If she knew we were in this weather, she’d be really mad.”
That was the truth, although both Betty and Rourke seemed to love Sammy, the young college girl staying with them.
Since he’d returned, Daniel and I had fallen into this sort of normal-ish routine with dog sitters and date nights. I sort-of golfed, and Daniel ignored the emergency athlete calls, mostly because he’d had to call in a few favors from me too. He’d found himself involved with the Harvard golf team, who practiced at The Country Club, and it was a really perfect fit. The guys loved Daniel as a mentor, and he felt young working with them.
Two players had needed immediate ortho consults, and I was able to set them up with Smyth, who was thrilled to see them.
I saw a long future for Daniel and his college dudes, as he called them while always smiling.
As for Daniel and me, we’d been living together without much preamble since the day he came back and cooked paella. And now as I sat in the theater with the lights dimming, I wondered what was in store for us. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t Daniel cooking. The paella had been a limited run—or a one-hit wonder—including the cleanup.
Despite my brazen personality, I couldn’t find it in myself to ask about us or where we were heading… I was happy in a way I’d never imagined for myself, so I was attempting to live in the unknown and enjoy it as much as I could.
The movie started and took my attention away from the runaway train of thoughts in my head. When the scene came on—the one Daniel had mentioned before the movie, where he hits a hole in one—I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. He played the role perfectly, touching on the loneliness the main character felt on the tour and when he’d been abandoned by everyone who had cared for him when he hit rock bottom. Now, Daniel, portraying someone else, held great form and shot an eagle before standing tall and smiling and handing the caddy the club, heading off to the clubhouse to get his woman. The person who he’d known all his life…
It wasn’t until Daniel removed his hand from mine that I realized our hands were still entwined. I saw him reach into his suit jacket from the corner of my eye, and I secretly wondered if he had snacks. But then I felt his hand come back to mine.
Except he was wiggling something on my finger. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the screen, but I did. When I peered down at my hand, there was a shiny emerald-cut diamond on a diamond-encrusted band on my ring finger.
“Danny—”
He held his free pointer finger to his lip, signaling me to be quiet. Then, he mouthed, Yes or no?
I couldn’t mouth a thing for fear I’d shriek, so I nodded.
All Daniel did was squeeze my hand and lean in close and say, “That was a proposal.”
It sure was…
When the lights came up and the applause died down, we met up in the lobby for a cocktail with Ryan and Genie.
“Girllllll, I have been waiting,” she squealed as soon as she saw me, promptly grabbing my hand.
“Did you say yes, Birdie?” Ryan asked, ignoring Daniel’s silly side-eye. Ryan called me by my nickname any chance he had.
“I did,” I was in the middle of saying when Genie’s phone rang her emergency ringtone.
“I’m sorry, I have to take this. I’ll be right back,” she said.
The glow-up of the most low-key proposal—it was perfect—and the multitude of people coming over to congratulate Ryan and Daniel kept me occupied until Genie reappeared with a smile plastered on her face. But her skin was pale as a ghost.
“What’s wrong?” I knew Regina, and something was wrong. She’d been thinking of moving to Los Angeles, which only I knew since she’d asked me for a reference for a new job. It hurt me to think about, but she deserved happiness with a movie star. She was living the dream, so for her to be upset now, it had to be something complicated.
“I don’t want to ruin tonight…”
“Regina, spill it,” I threatened.
Daniel wrapped his arm around me and formed a huddle with Genie, sensing the vibe and giving us a veiled curtain of privacy.
“My cousin, Charlotte, you know?”
I nodded, having met Charlotte twice. Nice kid—
“Well, she’s back home, at our hospital. She is such an idiot—gah. She didn’t get her period for five months and didn’t think anything of it. As you know, she’s a college track runner, and they lose their period. Now, she went to the hospital thinking she had food poisoning, and oops, she’s preggo!”
“Aagh, I’m sorry. Is she involved with the father? Does she have someone with her?” I asked this, knowing she was going to carry the baby to full-term, being it was close to five months.
“Broke up with him two months ago. She’d been feeling tired and run-down, duh, go figure… Back then, she thought a relationship, track, and classes was too much. I feel awful for her, but it’s not time to dwell on it. I need to act. Listen, this baby needs to be adopted by a good family so she can finish her education. She said so herself—she’s not ready.”
The breath whooshed out of Genie’s lungs as Daniel continued to hover with his arms around us. That was until I felt him squeeze my side, and I knew we were adding to our family again before he bent over and whispered the plan in my ear with a soft kiss.
We were going to get married and become parents, living our own dream life we hadn’t even known we wanted…back when I wore day-of-the-week panties and we flirted over pretend golf.