Epilogue
Four Months Later
The new Virtue train station was a beautiful building.
It reminded Luke of old Victorian stations, made of red brick and with high peaked roofs that let the snow slide right off.
In December, for its opening, that was important: Virtue was a winter wonderland at this time of year, snow piled everywhere except for on the station's slate roof.
The interior was warm and cozy and still had tall arched ceilings, comfortable seating, and light from big windows that made the space feel welcoming.
There were two roofed platforms, north and south bound, with handsome pillars lifting the roof high enough that the engines didn't overwhelm the space with their rumbling.
Some of the new trains, Luke knew, would be electric, and therefore much quieter, but for the opening of the line the state had hauled out an actual steam train.
People had traveled all the way up from the city on the old train, and spilled out into Virtue's station with expressions of excited joy.
They had about three hours in town: just enough time to eat and hit the holiday market.
Then the train would go north to its final Stateside stop before crossing into Canada and heading for Ottawa, finally re-opening a line that had been closed for decades.
Town mayors and other dignitaries from down the line had gotten on at their stops, and now were here to celebrate the opening of the new Virtue station.
Most of Sabrina's architecture firm had come up, too, as well as a number of the people higher in the whole Gladiator organization.
Luke had met a startling number of shifters among those higher-ups, including a big bear of a man named Garius who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.
A slimmer, smaller man named Conri was glad-handing, and it was clear to Luke that Sabrina's efforts on the train station project were not going unappreciated.
His heart absolutely filled with pride, until he actually had to duck his head and wipe tears away, which made Garius give him a sympathetic smile.
"It's great, isn't it?" he asked softly.
"My own wife knocks my socks off every time she gets involved in a project.
I've never met anybody as good for me as she's been. "
Luke smiled back through upwelling emotion. "It is. I had no idea what I was missing until I met her."
Garius clapped him on the shoulder and then, clearly having used up all his social battery, retreated to the side of a tall, attractive woman who smiled at him with the same joy Luke and Sabrina shared.
It made him think about husbands and wives, and then, with a sudden, quiet laugh, he knew what that perfect proposal he hadn't yet made would be.
The Next Summer
It turned out wrangling all of The Girls and Their Boys into one place was less difficult than Luke imagined, although he expected that had something to do with the 'all expenses paid' thing he offered to ease the wrangling.
What was more difficult, in fact, was finding somewhere that would rent paddleboats to them: he ended up flying everybody to California, in fact, because apparently word had gotten around the entire mountain region about this group of adults who couldn't be trusted in paddleboats.
On one hand, it was the most intense padderbee Luke had ever participated in.
On the other hand, it was also only the second one, so he wasn't sure if that was saying much.
But once again, he protected Sabrina from being overturned in their derby, until finally they were the last two paddleboats standing.
He threw the fight, obviously, because the whole point was to lose, and although he was pretty confident Sabrina knew he'd let her win, he still saw her throw her hands in the air triumphantly as he splashed into the water.
She was still laughing and cheering for herself as he surfaced again, while the rest of the friends group cheered and applauded along with her, some from the water, some from the boats they'd already climbed back into.
Their cheers intensified as Luke popped back to the surface, and Sabrina, beaming with happiness already, turned toward him to see that he'd come up holding a little black box, now open so the diamond ring inside could glitter in the sunlight.
For a heartbeat she absolutely froze, and then her face crumpled into teary surprise.
Luke had just long enough to wonder if he'd somehow made a terrible mistake, and then the love of his life flung herself into the water, swam the few strokes to kiss him, and with utter joy, whispered, "Yes," against his mouth.
The Summer After That
A river ran through Virtue, so that at least sorted out where they would have the annual paddleboat derby before the wedding.
Luke and Sabrina lost that one and neither of them cared, because Emmy was standing on shore holding their son Levi, who, at six months old, was too little to know what was going on but still giggled and waved anyway.
The wedding itself was a blur for Luke, punctuated by moments of unbearable joy, though he was pretty sure that everyone else would remember The Moment Of Confession most clearly.
They'd agreed on the reception dinner as the time to reveal the truth.
Sabrina, absolutely staggeringly beautiful in a gown that followed her curves before splashing out into a soft, lacy train, stood up at the wedding party's table and lifted a glass of champagne.
Silence fell, and she, somewhat ruefully, said, "I know brides don't usually make speeches at their own weddings, but this one is important.
I have a confession to make to my Girls. "
"Oh my God!" Jan cried. "You're pregnant again?"
"What? No! Jeez, just because you've had four babies in three years—"
"I didn't know I was going to have two sets of twins!" Poor Jan sounded absolutely desperate, while Derek, the only one who suspected what was going on, soothed her and tried not to grin too widely.
"No! No more babies! Not right now. No, this is about me and Luke. I kind of lied to you."
This time Mindy was the one who said, "Oh my God," and actually stood up at the table. She, like all the bridesmaids, was in a gorgeous pale green that suited her pale, redheaded skin incredibly well. "You did lie about having a boyfriend!"
Sabrina paused and looked down at Luke, who spread his hands. She shrugged and looked back at Mindy. "Well, that took the wind right out of my sails."
"How did you pull it off?" Mindy demanded incredulously. "I was sure—but then—what?!"
Sabrina blushed, which went beautifully with her gown and veil.
"Emmy introduced me to Luke literally the day before I left for the wedding, and he was willing to be my fake boyfriend for the weekend.
But honestly, I think I fell in love with him before we even landed in Vegas.
So…well, yeah. I lied. I'm sorry. But also…
if I hadn't, I might never have actually met the love of my life, so I'd say it was worth it.
" She took a deep breath, which did amazing things to the bust line of the dress and made Luke feel that finishing the speeches sooner rather than later would be good.
"Still, I thought I should tell my Girls the truth. "
"You did," Keana said suddenly. Her hair was in a perfect Afro, with glittering bits of pale green jewelry set into the dark curls, and Luke thought she looked a bit like an ocean goddess.
"You did tell us. You said you'd met him two days ago and he'd been up for pretending to be your boyfriend. I just didn't believe it."
"Well," Sabrina said faintly, "you kind of weren't supposed to…"
"No, but we can't exactly be mad at you for living a lie when you told us the truth two years ago." Keana threw propriety to the wind and rose to hug Sabrina, who laughed into her shoulder and then momentarily disappeared in a sea of green as the other Girls swarmed in to hug her, too.
Half the wedding attendees clearly didn't understand what was going on, but that didn't matter: the wedding party seemed happy, so they were happy too.
Derek, looking incredibly smug, said, "I knew," and the rest of the Boys split their attention between him and Luke, demanding to know details.
It took a few minutes to settle down, and longer to finish the meal and get to the dancing, which was what Luke really wanted to do, so he could hold his beautiful new bride in his arms.
The first thing she said was, "That went pretty well," which made him laugh.
"Yes," he said, trying for solemnity. "I'd say it went off without a hitch, but we'd have a problem if today had gone off without a hitch."
"Luke!" She groaned, but happily. "I meant the telling them! Not the wedding itself!"
"I knew what you meant. I always knew it would go well, though."
"Really?" Sabrina squinted at him suspiciously. "How did you know?"
"Well. I know there are quite a few of them, but let's face it, Sabrina. Your friends are…bun in a million."
Even his rabbit stopped to stare at him, at that, and as for Sabrina, well, Luke had to kiss her again, and again, and again, until she stopped making faces at him, and for the rest of their lives.