Epilogue - Tucker
One year later
I'm standing at the altar. Well, not really an altar, more like a wooden arch that Mason built last week and Boone decorated with wildflowers this morning, and I can't stop fidgeting with my tie.
"Stop messing with it," Wade mutters from beside me. "You look fine."
"I look like an idiot in a suit."
"You look like a man about to marry the woman he loves. That's not idiotic, that's lucky as hell."
I glance at Wade, who's standing next to me as my best man, wearing his own suit and looking almost as uncomfortable as I feel.
Sierra must have forced him into it. But he's smiling, and there's something in his expression that tells me he gets it.
The nerves, the anticipation, the overwhelming feeling that your entire life is about to change in the best possible way.
The ranch looks incredible. We set up chairs in rows on the hill overlooking the valley, Frank's hill, the place where Marley and I had our first real conversation and our first kiss.
White fabric is draped between posts, fluttering in the breeze, and there are flowers everywhere.
Wildflowers, mostly, because Marley said she didn't want anything too fancy.
Said she wanted it to feel like the ranch, like us.
It's perfect.
The guests are starting to take their seats: about fifty people, which is more than I expected but less than it could have been. The other ranch owners and their girlfriends are scattered throughout the crowd, all of them grinning at me like they know something I don't.
I wish my dad could be here. I wish my mom could be here too, though I barely remember her. Just flashes of her smile, the sound of her laugh, the way she used to sing while making breakfast. But I like to think they're both watching somehow, and that they'd be happy for me.
Emma appears at my side, wearing a white dress with pink flowers on it and her pink cowboy boots because she refused to wear the fancy shoes Marley bought her. She's holding a small pillow with two rings tied to it, and she looks so grown up it makes my chest race. Time is moving too fast.
"Daddy, are you nervous?" she asks, looking up at me.
"Terrified, Bug."
"That's okay. Marley said you'd be nervous." She grins. "But she also said you'd be fine once you saw her."
"She said that?"
"Yep. She said you always calm down when you see her. Like magic."
I crouch down to Emma's level and adjust one of her pigtails. "You know what's about to happen, right? When I marry Marley, she's going to be part of our family. Officially."
"I know, Daddy. We talked about it." Emma's smile widens. "She said I can call her whatever I want. Mom, Marley, Dr. Marley, whatever feels right. But I think I'm going to call her Marley-Mom."
"Marley-Mom?"
"Yeah. Because she's Marley, but she's also going to be my mom. So, Marley-Mom." She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
I pull her into a hug. "I love you, Bug. You know that, right?"
"I know, Daddy. I love you too." She pulls back and pats my cheek. "Now stand up. The music's about to start."
She's right. The guitarist we hired, some kid from town who plays at Maria's on weekends, starts strumming something soft and sweet, and everyone turns in their seats to look toward the house.
And then I see her.
Marley's walking up the hill with Boone at her side.
She asked him to walk her down the aisle since her father's gone and Boone's the one who convinced me to go after her in the first place.
She's wearing a simple white dress that hugs her curves, her dark hair is down and curling around her shoulders, and she's wearing those black-framed glasses I love.
She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
The moment I see her, the nerves disappear. Everything else fades away-The crowd, the decorations, even Emma tugging on my sleeve, and all I can see is Marley walking toward me with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.
When she reaches the altar, Boone wishes us good luck, then he steps aside and she's standing in front of me, close enough to touch.
"Hi," she says softly.
"Hi." My voice comes out rough, choked. "You look..."
"Gorgeous? Stunning? Like the luckiest woman alive?" She grins. "Because that's how I feel."
"All of that. And more."
The officiant, some guy from town that Wade recommended, clears his throat and starts talking about love and commitment and all the things you're supposed to say at weddings.
I try to pay attention, but I can't stop looking at Marley.
Can't stop thinking about how a year ago I was terrified to even ask her to dinner, and now she's about to become my wife.
"Tucker?" the officiant prompts.
I blink. "Sorry, what?"
"Your vows."
Right. Vows. I wrote them down on a piece of paper that's currently in my pocket, but when I reach for it my hands are shaking so badly I can't unfold it.
Marley reaches out and takes my hands in hers, steadying me. "It's okay. Just say what you feel."
I take a breath and look into her brown eyes, and the words come easier than I expected.
"Marley, a year ago you walked into my life and saved my daughter's horse.
But you did more than that. You saved me too.
You made me believe that I could have something for myself, that I deserved to be happy, that love was worth trying.
" I pause, my voice cracking. "You've been patient with me, with Emma, with this whole crazy ranch life.
You've shown up every single day, even when things got hard.
And I promise I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing up for you too.
Loving you, supporting you, making you laugh when you're stressed about work.
You're my partner, my best friend, and the love of my life.
And I can't wait to spend forever with you. "
Marley's crying now, tears streaming down her face, and she doesn't even bother wiping them away.
"Tucker, you and Emma gave me a family when I thought I'd never have one.
You gave me a home, a purpose, a reason to believe in second chances.
I love you both so much it scares me sometimes.
But it's the good kind of scared. The kind that means I'm alive, that I'm happy, that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
I promise to love you, to take care of Emma, to be here through all the ups and downs. You're stuck with me now."
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
The officiant says something about rings, and Emma steps forward with the pillow, beaming with pride. I take Marley's ring—a simple gold band with a small diamond, nothing fancy because she said she didn't need fancy, and slide it onto her finger.
"With this ring, I thee wed."
Marley takes my ring and slides it onto my finger, her hands steady even though mine are still shaking. "With this ring, I thee wed."
"By the power vested in me by the state of Montana," the officiant says, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
I don't wait for him to finish. I pull Marley into my arms and kiss her, deep and long and full of everything I feel for her. The crowd erupts in cheers and applause, and Emma's jumping up and down yelling
"They did it! They did it!" but all I can focus on is Marley—my wife—kissing me back like I'm the only person in the world.
When we finally break apart, we're both grinning like idiots.
"Mrs. Hayes," I say.
"Dr. Hayes," she corrects with a laugh. "I'm keeping my title."
"Dr. Hayes, then." I kiss her again, quick and sweet. "I love you."
"I love you too."
We turn to face the crowd, hand in hand, and everyone's on their feet clapping and cheering. Wade's whistling, Sierra's crying, and Emma's running toward us with her arms outstretched.
"Marley-Mom!" she shouts, and Marley scoops her up into a hug, both of them laughing.
I stand there watching my wife and my daughter, the ranch spread out behind us, the sun setting over the valley, and I think about Frank and his belief that you could see your whole life from this hill if you looked hard enough.
He was right.
I can see everything from here. The past, the present, the future. The struggles and the triumphs, the heartbreak and the healing. The family I've built, the love I've found, the life I never thought I'd have.
My dad would have loved Marley. Would have loved seeing Emma so happy, seeing the ranch thriving again. And my mom… I hope she knows that I finally found what she and Dad had. That kind of love that makes everything else worth it.
"Come on, husband," Marley says, taking my hand. "Let's go celebrate."
Emma grabs my other hand, and the three of us walk down the hill together toward the reception, toward the music and the laughter and the beginning of our forever.
And for the first time in my life, I'm not afraid of what comes next.
I'm ready for it.
Ready for all of it.
Thank you for reading it!