Epilogue #2
I know someday she’ll say my name correctly. But I hope it’s not anytime soon.
The audience chuckles again.
“She might be more tasty than you are,” Spence says. “You can cross.”
Alex flutters her wand and tiptoes adorably to the other side. Once she stops, she looks at me, smiling, and I begin my trek across the bridge.
Spence bellows, “Who dares to cross my bridge? I sure would like to gobble someone up for a snack today.”
“It’s me, Princess Meredith,” I say. “But please don’t eat me. There is something, someone”—I look back to the door that hasn’t opened yet and can’t contain the giggle that bubbles up—“much, much bigger and better coming along for you to feast upon.”
“Who is this you speak of?” Spence the Troll asks as I step to the other side of the bridge.
The door swings open, and Harlan steps out in all his glory with his arms stretched wide. “It is I, Harlan, cousin to Rocky the Bighorn Sheep,” he says through the giant head of his mascot costume, an exact replica of the atrocious Rocky from Alex’s favorite pizza parlor.
The crowd goes wild. I can even hear Claire cackling from the FaceTime call. Alex jumps up and down, causing her crown to fall off.
“Dude.” Spence breaks character, laughing.
“Get on with it,” Harlan growls.
Spence stands to full height, trying to scowl but failing miserably. “And why do you want to cross my bridge?”
Harlan places his fists on his waist and stands taller when he says, “Because the woman I love is on the other side, and”—he steps across the bridge to hold my hand up with his—“we are getting married.”
Alex raises her arms in the air and yells to the audience, “We’re getting mawwied!”
Chaos ensues, but it’s the best kind.
Spence looks at both of us. “What?!”
Sally hugs her kids and yells from the back, “That’s amazing!”
Harlan pulls off his giant costume head just in time to pick up an excited Alex and put her on his hip. He places his other hand around my waist and looks down to grin at me, then back to the audience.
Mama Lee remains sitting but hugs Prissy, then looks at her son, emotion behind her eyes. The rest of the Holcombes rush to Harlan, and the boys and William give manly, back-slapping hugs while Gracie tells me how happy she is for us.
Molly stands, watching the joy, then her eyes find mine and something good passes between us. I love you, she mouths.
I love you, I mouth back to her.
Hannah runs up to me and almost tackles me in an overexuberant teenager hug while squealing something about marrying Hercules. Taylor rolls his eyes at his sister and says a quiet “That’s cool, Aunt Meredith.”
My mother snaps a picture of all of us and says, “Can I post this on Facebook? My book club ladies are going to love this.”
“No, Mom!” both Molly and I say while laughing.
Almost everyone knew the big news already.
Prissy, Penelope, and Alex were a given.
Prissy probably keeps state secrets but would never keep something from her best friend about her kids.
Which means Mama Lee knew. But Mama Lee already knew because she’s a mom and moms just know things about what’s best for their kids, even if their kid is a famous movie star.
William knew because he kept badgering Harlan until Harlan told him in a huff that he should back off because he was going to propose.
William said once Harlan’s good mood returned, he knew I had said yes, so he told his wife and kids.
Molly knew, which I figured meant my parents knew because there hasn’t been a secret about me that my sister has ever kept. But Harlan had also asked my parents for permission to marry me, so they knew.
The four people who were truly surprised were my niece and nephew and Spence and Sally.
The one secret we were able to keep from everyone was Harlan’s Rocky the Bighorn Sheep costume. And, honestly, seeing him in that thing is almost better than announcing our engagement.
When Alex grows up and gets married, at her rehearsal dinner I will thank her for not asking me to wear Rockina’s horrendous matching costume.
Once the congratulations die down, everyone heads into the house for some light snacking, leaving Harlan and me on the porch alone.
Harlan stalks to me, a smoldering look on his face and the bighorn sheep mask dangling off one hand, its horns sticking out from his side.
“You are simultaneously the sexiest and funniest man alive right now,” I say, grinning at him. “I told you that you could have a future in mascot wear.”
With his eyes not leaving mine, he drops the mask on the floor and swoops—yes, swoops—me into his arms. Without saying a word, he kisses me something thorough, long, and lovely.
Once finished, he pulls back and whispers against my lips, “Happy?”
I lean further into him, giving him all my weight. “Yes.”
He draws back more and studies me. “So how long do you think we have until Molly has her dream wedding planned for us?”
“She’s already planned it.”
“What? I mean, she knew I proposed, but what?”
“She’s known for three weeks,” I say as if this explains it. Because it does where Molly is concerned.
Realization crosses his face, and he nods. “A tactical error on my part.”
I run my hands up and down his back. “You wanted to ask her permission. You made a trade. It’s understandable.”
“She’s made some big changes in her life. Maybe she’s going to let you do this on your own.”
“She just told me she had some ideas and wants to have some girl time while she’s in town, which means she’s planned it.”
He looks over my shoulder. “She totally has it planned.”
“Yup.”
He cringes. “What do you think she has planned?”
“She’ll assume we’re getting married in Dallas and have three venue options. One church, one arboretum, and one fancy hotel. There will be a binder.”
“A binder?”
“With tabs.” I pat his arms in conjunction with the two words. “She’ll have it planned, but she won’t have the deposits down, so we might have more time.”
“How long?”
“Forty-eight hours. Tops.”
He looks worried, so I say, “We have a secret weapon.”
He raises his eyebrows in question. I give him a minute to think it through, and we say at the same time, “Penelope.”
“We totally have a secret weapon,” he says with a confident grin. “How long do you think until Penelope has the real wedding planned?”
“I’m sure it’s already planned in her head. But she’s playing the long game. She’s probably waiting for us to take a few days, become miserable, then walk right into the realization that she could help.”
He draws me closer, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Do you want to get married in Dallas?”
Nothing feels right about that. It’s not just that Steve and I got married in Dallas. It’s that my life isn’t there anymore. “No.” I stand on tiptoe and kiss him. Just because I can. “I want to get married here.”
He flashes me a smile and lowers his head to kiss me again, but Penelope opens the back door and walks out of the house. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but your presence is being requested in the dining room for the cutting of the engagement cake.”
Harlan releases me, bends to scoop up his Rocky head, and looks to Penelope. “If I find out you had anything to do with this costume, there will be words.”
Without batting an eye, Penelope says, “You won’t find a receipt for that costume anywhere in your accounts. Sometimes I do work for your fiancée’s nonprofit, but the work I do there is confidential.”
“I knew it,” he said, shaking his head.
A smile tugs at her lips, but she turns her attention to me. “Meredith, there are some lovely wildflowers at the edge of your property. I wondered if you wanted something like that for your wedding.”
Wildflowers from my property that butts up against Harlan’s family property. For our wedding. That sounds perfect.
Harlan shoots his eyes to me. She is totally about to be our secret-weapon wedding planner.
Penelope ducks back into the house. Harlan and I follow, but before he walks over the threshold, he turns to me, snakes his arm around my waist, draws me to him, and kisses me one last time. Then he says, “If you want me to wear Rocky’s costume to our wedding, I’m drawing the line.”