Epilogue - Summer #2
I slip my hand into the pocket of my dress, toying with the ring I took off right before we arrived.
Looking around, I make a decision and slip it on. "Well, I guess since everyone is here, now would be a good time to tell you all that we're going to be getting married."
Zoe squeals from the blanket, springing up and rushing over with Taylor in her arms. She's the first one to pull me into a hug, the rest of the family still shell-shocked.
Laughing, I hug her back.
She's barely let go of me when the others are all piling around. I'm passed from one person to the next until it feels like I can barely breathe, but I wouldn't change a moment of it for anything.
When everyone finally disperses to go get their food, I sit on a planter box.
Noah corners me, looming over me, wearing that smile I can't resist, the corners of his eyes crinkling and a mischievous look in his gaze.
"What?" I take a bite of my burger.
His hands skim up my thighs. "Want to sneak off now? We could go inside when everyone is eating, and we could be back out before they ever knew we were gone."
I glance at my family and back at Noah before nodding.
He takes my hand, and we take off running to the house, everyone's backs turned as they gather around the fire Aiden is building for the s'mores to come later.
As Noah and I disappear to our room, I'm already dreaming of ducking out of our wedding to go have some fun.
Extended Epilogue =================
Noah ----
One Year Later
Eloping is the way to get married.
You don't have to deal with other people's expectations; it's just you and your partner promising to love each other for the rest of your lives. I don't have to worry about the way her brothers are looking at me or that someone is going to show up and ruin her happy day.
Not that her family would ever do that to her, but I live with the constant fear that someone is going to find out I'm not who I say I am. That everything about my life right now is a lie that I'm desperately trying to sell.
Living this life gets easier every single day, but the fear grows too.
Especially since we're going to start trying for a baby within the next six months.
But right now, all I have to do is focus on the wedding. Get through the ceremony without stuttering over my vows and disappointing Summer.
Though, with the way she looks at me like I hung the stars in the sky, I don't think that's possible.
Summer gives me a warm smile, the skirt of her lacy white dress fluttering in the wind as she walks down the pier toward me.
It's only once she steps onto the pier, her back to the parking lot, that the rest of the family starts to filter in.
She stops in her tracks when she hears the laughter behind her, whipping around. A broken sob echoes across the short distance between us before she takes off sprinting to the family.
Her brothers and sisters pull her close, all of them talking over each other like they always do whenever they get together.
I stand to the side with my hands in my pockets, but Zoe and Ezra make their way over, Gia trailing behind them.
I swallow hard, things still a little tense between all of them and me. "Thank you for coming."
Gia is the first to move, pulling me into a tight hug. "You're an asshole for waiting until the last minute to fly us all in, but I'm so glad we're here for this."
Hugging her tight, I try to force away all the tension in my body. "Summer never said she wanted all of you here. Actually, the opposite—a lot. I didn't think she'd be able to go through with it, though. Not with her siblings and all the nieces and nephews missing."
"And..." Zoe draws out the word as she replaces Gia for a hug.
"And I don't think I could do it without all of you here, either. I know I haven't been the best brother or cousin, but I'm trying to do better. She makes me want to be better, even though that feels impossible at times, and I don't think I really know what I'm doing ever."
Ezra snorts and claps a hand on my shoulder. "You're an idiot, but I'm glad this shit is over, and we can all move on with our lives. Jade and I are going to be heading to Asia for the summer. She wants to spend time traveling to a million different countries and learning more recipes."
Gia laughs, shaking her head. "Royce and I are going to be staying here for a bit.
With Ellie and Sean building a new house, they need Royce's help a lot of the time.
Skyla and Joshua are talking about staying around New York for the summer too, but I think they're moving closer to you and Summer after that. "
Summer's loud laughter echoes around the private beach.
I grin, tucking my hands into my pockets. "She's going to love having her family closer. Sometimes, I think she misses living in New York and being so close to everyone."
Skyla saunters over, eyeing me like she's still thinking about killing me, but I think that's just in her nature. "I heard my name."
"You're going to be moving closer to us?" I take a step back, making sure there's more than an arm's length between us. Out of all the Lyndes, I think she's always going to be the one I trust the least.
She smiles, but it's more like baring her teeth. "Yeah. Things are getting a little hot back home, and the police are starting to look for a person who might be running around and killing other people."
Joshua scoffs as he comes over to join us. "You got sloppy. We're going to have to try harder to keep things under wraps."
Summer bounces over, her hair hanging in wild waves around her face, her eyes shining with happiness. "Are we getting married or what?"
Hector hums and opens the binder he has. "Didn't want to get too pushy, but it's getting late, and I want to start drinking."
Summer laughs as Ellie starts rounding up the family and getting them in position.
I go and take my place beside Hector, letting out a deep breath.
Soft music plays in the background as Summer goes to take her position at the end of the pier again.
She holds the flowers in her hand tight, and for a moment, I wonder if she'll turn and run.
I'd be upset, but I was right. Having everyone here with her was the right choice, even though she said she wanted to elope. She would have regretted not having her family here, eventually.
I keep my hands clasped in front of me, and the closer Summer gets, the more my cheeks ache.
As the music comes to an end, she stops in front of me. "Hey."
Chuckling, I reach out and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear as the salty air tugs at it. "Hey."
Summer smirks and hands the flowers off to Jade, reaching for my hands. "Are you sure you want to do this? It's not too late to run. I mean, you don't seem like the marrying type, and now here we are, standing here, and you're about to tell everyone that you love me."
Hector glances between the two of us. "Do you even want me to officiate?"
I snort and nod, pressing my lips into a thin line for a moment before the smile breaks back out. There's no controlling it as Hector goes through the lines he has to say.
And then comes the part for the vows.
I shift my weight from one side to the other, looking down at her, and everything I'd practiced suddenly leaves. I have no clue what to say to her, but I have to say something.
Winging it, I guess.
"Summer, before you, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life alone. I was comfortable with the thought of dying young and not hoping for much more than I had. I didn't consider being a better man."
I take a deep breath, my gaze locked on hers.
"When you came into my life, I knew that I was never going to be the same.
You love me unconditionally, and I adore you.
Hell, I'm pretty sure the sun sets and rises with you, and I don't ever want to spend another day without you in my life. I love you."
She blinks back tears, laughing as she reaches up to wipe her eyes.
Hector winks at her. "Your turn once you're done crying."
Her laughter breaks the stream of tears flowing down her cheeks.
"I'm gonna be honest, I didn't write anything.
I was so busy prepping for trial, and then every time I sat down and tried to write, I couldn't, so this is probably gonna suck, but I've been thinking about what I want to say to you all day. "
Chuckling, I reach forward and wipe her tears. "You don't have to say a word."
"I do, because I love you. I love you so damn much, and I haven't been able to picture what my life would look like without you for a very long time."
Summer wipes her eyes again, her voice wavering a little.
"Falling in love with you came easily, even when you were being difficult.
You brought a new light into my life; you breathed life back into me.
It would be impossible not to love you. And all I can do is hope that forty years from now, when we're old and gray, with our children, I'm even more in love with you than I am right now. "
Hector gives Summer a beat after she finishes speaking to collect herself. "And with that, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
I don't wait for him to say the rest, instead grabbing Summer and pulling her in, dipping her low and kissing her until we both run out of air.
Our family erupts in cheers as we straighten up and pull apart.
Summer blushes and buries her face in my chest for a moment, her entire body shaking with laughter.
I hold her tight, lifting her hand, staring at the ring on it for a moment before leaning in to kiss her again.
Summer grins up at me as we break apart. "You know, getting married on a private island might've been the best idea you've ever had."
"Don't let your family hear that," I whisper in her ear. "They're going to think that shipping them out here was the best idea I've had."
"Well, I'm glad you did that too. We barely get to catch up these days." Summer leans into me as soft music plays once more.
I begin to twirl her around, moving to the beat of the music, my heart crashing through my chest. I don't know how it's possible, but I love her even more now than I did before.
"I was thinking that they could come back to the beach house with us.
The house has enough room for everyone to stay with us for a week or two if they want. "
Summer lights up, cupping my face in her hands, bouncing on her toes. "You're serious?"
I brush my lips over hers, our foreheads pressing together when it ends. "Of course. They may drive me insane, but they're all part of our life, and I wouldn't want to share this with anyone else."
She laughs and shakes her head. "You're probably going to regret that by the time they all leave."
I shrug one shoulder, dipping her low again as the song comes to an end before pulling her back to me. "Probably, but I'd give you the world if it would make you happy. This seems pretty small in comparison."
She snorts and breaks away from me as her brothers come to dance with her.
I step off to the side with Zoe, taking one of the beers Hector grabs out of the cooler.
Zoe takes the other and cracks it open, looking at me. "You know, I didn't think there was ever going to be a time in our lives when we were so closely intertwined with the Lyndes."
"I thought I was going to slaughter them all." I stare at Summer as she dances, laughing and giggling with the nieces and nephews as they all pull out their best dance moves.
Zoe tips the neck of her bottle against mine. "Aren't you glad you didn't? If I knew life could be this good, I would've left your ass a long time ago."
"Well, life was fucked. Speaking of, how are things going in New York?" I sip the beer, shifting a little to face her.
"We're expanding. Aiden wants to keep pushing for more territory, and since you're still playing dead, people aren't really putting up any resistance anymore. If they do, they end up dead quickly."
I nod, not sure what else to say. It feels weird to be talking about that world when I've been out of it for years now. But maybe that's a good thing.
Maybe that's the key step in all of us being able to be here now. Apart from Skyla, nobody looks like they're eager to kill anybody.
Summer is happy, and it looks like it's going to be a good vacation.
I tip my head in Summer's direction. "I'm going to go see my wife, but tell everyone if they want to stay on the island for the next couple of weeks with us, they're more than welcome to."
There's no point in waiting for a response, not when I want to spend time with my wife on our wedding day.
I capture Summer around the waist and pull her into me, rocking with her to the beat of the music.
She stares up at me, and as she does, I can see forever in her eyes.