Epilogue
KATIE
“Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I assure the seamstress, whose nervous hands seem to be slipping often. I’ve been poked several times with pins. But it doesn’t bother me. I was once a beginner, too.
This dress store is nearly two hours north of Wild Bronco, but it’s the best plus-size wedding dress maker in the country as far as I’m concerned. They’ve got every style, every color, everything you might imagine.
“Why didn’t you ever carry wedding dresses in your store?” Dot asks me curiously.
“Wedding dresses are their whole specialty,” I shake my head. “I like to look at them, but making them? Nah. I’ll stick with the everyday wear and the lingerie.”
“I do like the lingerie,” Dot murmurs.
I nod. Just yesterday, Dot came into my store and practically bought out my entire inventory. Most things for her studio, which is now a boudoir studio exclusively. But I know that several items that she picked out were just for her.
You see, she’s doing her own solo shoot. Self portraits, just for her eyes. It’s such a good idea, I don’t know how it’s taken her this long to do it.
“You know,” I say. “If you ever do get married, you could give your husband an album full of your sexy pictures.”
She sighs.
“At this rate I’m never getting married. All of the good men in Wild Bronco have been snatched up.”
“Now, that’s not true. William Lewis is still single,” I tease her, referring to her much hated boss.
“Single for a reason! He’s a menace.”
“Maybe if you give him one of your pictures, he’ll go easier on you at work.”
Dot’s eyes widen and I hold back my laughter, carefully avoiding any movement that might cause a pin to stick me again.
Her phone buzzes in her pocket and she glances at the screen.
“Speak of the devil,” she mutters.
She glances at me guiltily.
“Go ahead,” I tell her. “It’s just another fitting. You’re not missing anything important.”
She nods and exits out the door, the phone already held to her ear as she says in a grandiose tone, “Good morrow, Sir William! How may I be of service, Your Grace?”
I shake my head. I know my best friend complains about William being the issue, but sometimes I think it’s a mutually hostile relationship, with Dot instigating things just as often as her boss.
The seamstress adds a couple more pins, then steps back.
“Okay,” she says. “Look.”
I turn to the three way mirror in the corner.
“It’s perfect,” I declare.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen my dress. This is my final fitting, and after this, the next time I put on this white dress will be on my wedding day. Which is only four days away from now.
It’s hard to believe that soon I’ll be Katie Baker, wife of Darren Baker. I want to pinch myself, because the last few months have been one long, amazing dream.
In so many ways, nothing has changed. I still live in the apartment above the store. I still work most days a week. Only now, Darren comes by for lunch most days. And then after work on Fridays, he picks me up in his truck and takes me out to dinner.
Sundays are for family dinner with the Bakers.
I have a feeling that Darren and Dot are both glad I’m there for support.
Things between Mrs. and Mr. Baker are always tense, the result of a divorce that is long overdue but will probably never come.
Darren always holds my hand beneath the table, squeezing at several points throughout the night when he especially needs me.
Dot has told me I might be the one thing keeping Darren from getting into a fight with their dad.
I think she was serious.
“Wow. Is there a tablecloth convention I wasn’t aware of?”
I turn and see…Heather.
Of course it’s her. After the bachelorette party, I attended our friend’s wedding with Darren as my plus one. She was nice in front of the bride and others, but when we were alone together for a moment in the bridal suite, she laughed at the way I was doing my hair.
Always something negative to say. And then she saw Darren at the reception and realized we were together. She put on the sweet girl act in front of him, touching his arm and laughing at everything he said as though it was the funniest thing she ever heard.
I know flirting when I see it.
I don’t know why she ever started to hate me. But I know that now? Now she has multiple reasons to hate me. The fact that I’m with Darren and she’s not, must drive her crazy.
“Look at me,” I smile, gesturing down to my dress. “It’s a very pretty tablecloth, don’t you think? And it seems like I won’t be the last in our friend group to get married. That honor is yours.”
Her eyes widen for a moment, then narrow. Meanwhile, I’m congratulating myself for thinking on my feet and coming up with that comeback so easily.
If only I was this smooth in high school. Would have been able to put a lot of bullies in their place. Luckily, Dot was always close by to help me out back then.
Speaking of Dot, she’s walking back in the door now.
“William Lewis is a douchebag!” she groans. “Decaf coffee, though? Why would the intern buy decaf? Does he have a death wish?”
She looks at my face, then spots Heather hovering nearby.
“Oh no,” she says. “What the hell do you want?”
“I was walking by and noticed Katie and -”
“And thought you’d take the opportunity to humiliate her on a special day?” Dot snaps, hands on her hips. “Seriously? Don’t you have anything better to do with your free time?”
“I just -”
“I don’t know why you insist on torturing my friend, here,” Dot continues. “I know my brother better than anyone. He was never interested in you. Not even for a moment. No matter how many times you called our house or brought him water during football practice.”
I laugh aloud and Heather looks from Dot to me, mouth squinched up like she’s just sucked on a lemon.
“Clearly he’s into Katie,” Dot continues.
“Who is nothing like you. Thank god. So you never had a chance and you never will. No amount of being mean to Katie is going to do anything about it. Except maybe piss my brother off, because anyone who has a problem with Katie has a problem with Darren, too.”
After Heather is gone, Dot gives me a hug.
“She’s a jealous bitch.”
“I know.”
“You really don’t,” Dot shakes her head. “I always wondered why she hated you so much. Now I realize. It’s because she knew what you meant to my brother. How did she know he was in love with you, but I had no idea?”
“She was attuned to him,” I shrug. “You weren’t. He’s just your big dorky brother, to you. To her, he was everything.”
I know how it feels, because Darren was everything to me in high school, too. My crush on him consumed me. And now as a grown woman, I am still crazy about him.
Even though Heather has always been mean to me, I still find a way to feel some empathy for her.
“She’s horrible,” Dot glares at the door Heather exited through.
“Nobody who is truly happy with themselves would treat another person the way she’s treated me,” I say with a shrug. “Whatever it is that’s causing her to lash out at people like this, I hope she heals from it.”
Dot shakes her head.
“You’re a bigger person than me.”
“What can I say? Being happily settled with my fiance has changed me.”
“You just wanted an excuse to say ‘my fiance’, didn’t you?”
“Of course. I only get to say it for four more days!”
I gasp for air, fisting the sheets in my hands. I’m on all fours, staring at Darren’s headboard as an earth-shattering orgasm ripples through my entire body. My second orgasm since I came home from the dress fitting.
His strong hands grip my hips and pull my ass back against him as he slams into me.
This? This is my favorite position. It’s the perfect angle, allowing me to take all of him without it being uncomfortable at all. At just the right angle, the sensations it causes basically melt my brain.
In a good way, obviously.
And ever since Darren learned that this position is my favorite, it’s all that he wants to do. He likes to please me in every way in life, and the bedroom is no different.
I know what his favorite position is. He likes me on top.
The first time we did it in that position, I tried to cover my torso in a blanket.
He ripped the blanket off. Said he liked me on top precisely because he could see everything.
It took me a while to really believe this, to strip off my clothes without even a hint of insecurity.
But I’m here now. Being naked in front of Darren is easy now.
He finishes at nearly the same time as me. We fall into bed together, tired and sated.
“Katie.”
“Yeah?”
Darren’s hand strokes my lower stomach. I look at him and he’s staring thoughtfully at the softness beneath his fingers.
“I want you to have my babies.”
I smile.
“I know.”
“Soon, though.”
“How soon?”
His eyes roam my face.
“How about, starting on our wedding night?”
I raise a brow.
“You want to start trying for a baby in four days?” I ask him, wondering if he didn’t realize how quickly our wedding is coming up.
“I’d start now if you wanted to,” he offers. “But I know you want us to be husband and wife first and I respect it. But yeah. As soon as you say those vows, I want to march you out of the wedding venue and take you on the nearest surface we can find. Unprotected.”
I stare down at his hand on my stomach and imagine it resting on a baby bump instead. Are we ready for that?
Crazy as it seems, I think we are. As ready as anyone ever is for kids, anyway.
“Okay,” I smile. “Let’s start on our wedding night.”
He exhales and I realize Darren was actually nervous to bring this up to me.
Nervous, worried I’d say no. This must mean a lot to him.
I knew he wanted a family. I wanted one too.
Having one this soon isn’t something we’d seriously discussed, but Darren makes me feel safe enough to jump into things without too much overthinking.
What’s that he told me on our first night together? To turn off my brain?
He makes it easier for me to turn off my brain. Or at least, turn it down.
I climb on top of him, straddling his hips as his cock hardens beneath me. His kiss is deep and slow.
I’m exactly where I want to be.