Epilogue
The ceremony starts soon.
I fasten the last button on my shirt and reach for the jacket hanging on the closet door.
Downstairs, Herc laughs. Stone answers him, low and dry, and the familiar rhythm of those voices moves through the house. It's good to have them here, and not because something has gone wrong.
They’re my brothers, and they’re here to celebrate something going very right.
My suit jacket settles over my shoulders. I adjust the cuffs, then stop and look at myself in the mirror. The man looking back at me is older than he was the first time he said these vows. He’s more scarred. More careful with happiness.
But he’s ready.
A soft knock sounds at the door.
I’m buttoning my cuffs when Ellie appears in the doorway.
She’s already been up and down the stairs twice, claiming she is checking logistics when she is really checking me. She is wearing a pale mint green dress, her hair pinned back on one side, and the look she gets when she is trying very hard not to cry.
I stop with one cuff undone.
“Hey, kiddo.”
She stops when she sees me.
“What?” I ask.
She blinks hard. “Nothing.”
“Ellie.”
“You look nice, Dad.”
I hold out my hand and she comes over to me.
I hug her tightly. “You look beautiful.”
She steps into the room and reaches for my tie. It is already straight, but I let her fuss with it.
“Mom would’ve liked this one,” she says.
I take a second to take that in.
“Yeah,” I say. “She would have.”
Ellie blinks fast, then pats my tie into place. “Okay. You’re ready.”
Downstairs, laughter breaks out again. Admiral tells them both to keep it down.
Ellie’s mouth twitches. “They’re nervous for you.”
I look out the window, then back at my daughter.
“Are you?”
“No.” She pats my chest once. “I’ve been ready.”
That does it. I pull her into a hug before she can dodge me. She lets me have it for three full breaths before pushing back.
“Okay. Don’t wrinkle me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
From downstairs, Admiral calls, “Doc. It’s time.”
Ellie reaches for my hand. “Let’s go marry Annie.”
***
We make it to the park on time.
Barely.
We have taken over the whole green space near the water. Chairs fill the lawn. People stand along the edges. Flowers from half the town are tied to the arbor. The new Lockhart-Bie Medical Center rises in the distance.
I make my way to the front and wait under the arbor. The Thirteen guys are by my side. Admiral, Herc, and Stone, dressed up and trying not to look emotional. Sara and Bella are seated near the front with Max and Lizzy between them. Rhea stands across from me as Annie’s maid of honor.
And we all wait.
After what seems like forever, the music changes.
Everyone turns.
Annie appears at the end of the aisle on Jake’s arm.
For a second, everything in me stops and I hold my breath.
She’s absolutely gorgeous.
She walks toward me in silk and lace, her eyes on mine and her chin lifted with that brave, stubborn grace that has always been hers.
The dress catches the light with every step, but she owns the aisle more than anything she wears.
Fierce. Soft. Certain.
Annie Lockhart is coming to marry me.
Ellie stands from the front row before anyone tells her to. Her eyes shine. Her smile warms my heart.
Annie reaches me, and the world I walked through to get here gathers itself into one clear, impossible truth.
She is here. She is mine.
She looks at me with confidence, then hands her bouquet to Rhea.
Her eyes are bright. Her smile trembles and I close my hand around hers, and the last of the fear leaves me.
“Hi,” she whispers.
“Hi.”
“You made it.”
“Of course, Ellie ran logistics.”
The officiant begins, and the ceremony moves around us. I will remember Annie’s hand sliding into mine and the whole world coming into focus. Ellie’s soft laugh when I have to clear my throat. Admiral handing over the rings with tears in his eyes. Our people gathered behind us.
Whatever comes next, we meet it from here. Side by side. Hands joined.
Annie draws one quiet breath.
I draw mine with her.
Her hand slips into mine. Her eyes shine, her smile trembles, and still she whispers, “I love you.”
Then we turn together, ready to make the promise that has already begun.
We say the vows.
I don’t remember every word I say.
I do remember the look on Annie’s face when we made our promises. Her hand in mine. How she stood in front of me with all the courage and tenderness I have come to love and took my name.
Then she’s my wife.
I kiss her before the officiant tells me I can.
The crowd erupts.
Ellie shouts, “Dad!”
And Annie kisses me again.
I pull back just enough to say, “I love you.” And then everyone is on their feet cheering.
My bride and I walk back down the aisle and lead all of our family and friends to the reception. It spills out from the tented space to the open park beside it. Coupeville treats the wedding like a town holiday. There is food from everyone, flowers everywhere, and lots of cake.
Annie moves through it all with my hand in hers when she can reach me and her eyes finding mine when she cannot. Every time someone hugs her, congratulates her, or calls her Mrs. Bie just to watch her react, she looks thrilled and ready to cry.
Happy tears.
Jake catches me near the drink table. “Congratulations, Doc.”
“Thanks, Jake.” He claps my shoulder, then pulls me into a hug hard enough to knock the air out of me.
When he lets go, his eyes are wet. “Take care of our girl.”
“I will.”
The toasts start after dinner.
Rhea goes first. She makes Annie laugh, then cry, then laugh again.
Stone says something brief and formal enough that I know Sara edited him.
Herc follows with one line about Annie surviving my stubbornness, then raises his glass before he can get himself in trouble.
Admiral refuses the microphone, which surprises no one, but lifts his glass from his table and gives me one sharp nod.
I understand the whole speech inside it.
Then Ellie stands. The tent settles before she reaches the small platform.
She has a piece of paper in one hand. “I was told to keep this short,” she says. “That was probably wise.”
Laughter moves through the tent.
“When Dad and I moved here, I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it was going to be hard moving to a new place where no one knew us.” She turns to Annie. “Annie, you helped me. You didn’t treat me like a kid. You shared the pain of losing your parents to help me make sense of losing my mom.”
“You helped with a ton more things too, like learning how to fish and how to bake. But you helped me learn how to be a part of the town. And how to let it be my home.”
Annie presses a hand to her heart.
Ellie looks at me next.
“But Mom also loved this place and wanted to live here. And I think she would be really happy that we moved here and found our village who loves us.”
She turns back to Annie.
“I never thought about getting a new mom. I’ve always had one.” Her voice trembles, then firms again. “Annie didn’t try to be my mom. She just showed up. She listened. She cared. And somewhere in there, she became family.”
Annie smiles through tears and my eyes burn.
Ellie lifts her glass.
“So, to Annie. Thank you for loving my dad. Thank you for loving me. And thank you for making him less weird.”
The tent breaks into laughter and applause.
I stand before Ellie can step down and meet her at the platform. She rolls her eyes, but she lets me hold her tight.
“I love you, Kiddo.”
“I know, Daddy. I love you, too.”
“Your mom would be proud.” She presses her face into my jacket.
“I know that too.”
When I sit again, I lift my glass without making a show of it.
To you, Beth. I was so lucky to have loved you. Lucky that we made that wonderful girl. And lucky that you had a hand in making sure love found me again.
I love you, Honey.
Across the tent, Ellie is wiping her cheeks while Erin says something that makes her laugh. Annie takes my hand under the table.
Annie leans into me, my wife, warm and real beside me.
The music starts after the cake.
I dance with Annie first. Then the town steals her, gliding and twirling her across the dance floor. She gets a break and I bring her some water. She barely gets two sips and Herc gets a dance. Stone slides in next.
She asks Admiral, but he declines respectfully. But, she waits him out, standing in front of him with both hands on her hips.
It only takes seven seconds to break him.
The man faced combat, command, and Washington politics, but he could not withstand Annie Lockhart Bie when she decides on something.
The music softens, and my daughter takes my wife’s hands in the middle of the dance floor.
At first, they laugh. Ellie says something, and Annie shakes her head. Then the laughter quiets. Annie pulls Ellie closer. They sway together under the reception lights.
I watch them for longer than I mean to.
The guys are talking behind me. Sara and Bella are nearby with the kids half asleep. Rhea is talking with Jake who’s pretending not to cry again.
But my eyes stay on Annie and Ellie.
My girls.
Ellie spots me watching. She says something to Annie, then brings her over by the hand.
“Your turn,” Ellie says. “She’s your wife.”
Annie’s eyes meet mine.
“Yes,” I say. “She is.”
Ellie grins and walks away, and Annie steps into my arms.
I take her back to the dance floor for one more song. Her hand rests against my shoulder. Mine settles at her waist. Around us, Coupeville keeps celebrating, but I don’t hear any of it.
Annie pulls my chin down. “You okay?”
“Absolutely.”
“Regrets?”
“Not one.”
Her eyes soften.
After the song, she takes my hand and leads me to the edge of the tent, just beyond the lights, where the air off the water is cool tonight. The reception carries on behind us. Ellie’s laugh rises above the music.
Annie turns into me and grabs my lapels and pulls me closer. “Hey.”
I wrap my arms around her. “Hey, yourself.”
She smiles and leans down. I kiss her slow and firm, with the town behind us and the water stretched out in front.
For years, home was a memory I was afraid to touch.
Then it was a place I bought for Ellie.
Now, with Annie in my arms, Ellie’s laughter carrying behind us, I look forward to tomorrow, waiting with all the ordinary things I never thought I would get to want again.
I hold Annie closer and let the truth settle all the way through me.
I am home.
Again.
THE END