Epilogue #3
“Sydney and Joe,” Lauren says, as she starts ticking names off on her fingers. “Your old boss, Heather, Drew, Lance—”
“I can’t believe you guys pulled this off. I had no idea. I was surprised enough by the proposal, but a wedding . . . on the same day . . .” I lose my words as tears fill my eyes.
Jackson quickly reaches over to a box of tissues on the dresser and hands me one. “Nope, no way are you ruining your eye makeup right now.”
There’s a knock on the door and as Lauren opens it, I hear my sister ask, “So, are we having a wedding tonight, or what?”
I spin around so fast I almost make myself dizzy. Sydney stands in the doorway in the same matching dress my friends wear.
“Yes.” I smile. “Yes, we are.”
BEAU
“So we find ourselves back here exactly one year later,” Nate says as he steps up next to me. I’m standing along the side of the room with the wall of windows that look out on the surrounding forest, just like he did minutes before his own wedding a year ago.
“Who would have thought?” I say without taking my eyes off the trees and mountain lit only by the moonlight. There’s always something so calming about the mountains.
“My car’s in the parking lot if you’re having second thoughts,” he says, repeating my words from a year ago back to me.
My shoulders shake with my laughter. “It sounds even more douchey when you say it.”
“What kind of brother-in-law would I be if I didn’t let you know I had your back, even if you were doing something stupid?”
I glance over at him. “I’m pretty sure I’m making the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re right,” he says, reaching over and clasping my shoulder. “At the risk of sounding like a total dick, it’s been great watching you grow up over this past year.”
“Given that you’ve never had siblings, I’m not surprised you don’t know how to fulfill this brotherly role.” I elbow him in the side.
My words are literal bullshit. Nate’s been exactly what my family needed—he brings out the best in Jackson, is helpful and supportive with my parents, has turned Blackstone’s operations around without making the mountain feel too different, and has offered me an amazing opportunity to be part of it all.
It’s like he’s welcomed me back into my own family and instead of it feeling patronizing, he’s been the common ground we all needed.
We stand there for a second when his phone buzzes and he takes it out of this pocket. “They’re ready.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. I knew Sierra would be game, I just didn’t know if she’d insist on talking it through with me first. But like she has for the past year, she continues to surprise me with her willingness to go with things, even if there’s only a skeletal itinerary and she didn’t have a hand in planning it.
“Are Lance, Drew, and Joe ready too?”
“Yeah, they were just showing people to their seats. Everyone’s ready.”
“Let’s do this, then,” I say and turn to walk over to the door that leads into the ceremony room. I pull it open, eager to get to the head of the aisle I’ll watch Sierra walk down.
The room is lit only by the glow of the soft white lights strung around the trees that line the perimeter of the room, and the candles along the front.
They cast a beautiful glow, but it’s going to make this quite difficult to photograph.
Luckily, I hired the most sought-after wedding photography duo in the region.
Unsurprisingly, I care more about the photos than any other aspect of the event besides the marriage itself.
We line up at the front, and when the pianist starts playing the processional, the doors at the end of the aisle open.
I watch Lauren and Petra walk down the aisle one after the other, followed by Jackson and Sydney, who walk down together.
I wonder if they’ve told Sierra yet how each insisted the other be the maid of honor until the only logical conclusion was that they should both hold the title.
There are so many details of planning this that I can’t wait to share with her.
The doors shut before I can get a glimpse of my bride, and I take that moment to look over at my mom, where she sits next to an empty seat in the front row.
She gives me a smile and a nod, and I feel more grounded than I ever have.
Somehow, being grounded is a welcome feeling now.
Not that I don’t still love soaring above the jumps, where the snow and the sky flip over one another while my body twists through the air.
But these days, that’s a fun distraction instead of my purpose in life, which is partially how I know it’s time to consider Nate’s offer.
The song changes and the door opens, and Sierra comes walking slowly down the aisle, gripping my dad’s arm like it’s the only thing holding her up. I can see the tears sparkling in her eyes as she gets closer, but her smile is wider than I’ve ever seen it.
When they reach me, my dad gives Sierra a kiss on the cheek, takes her hand, and places it in mine. Then he clasps both his hands around ours and says, “Be good for each other.”
“Thanks, Rory,” Sierra says quietly, which I appreciate because suddenly I’m too choked up to speak.
She turns toward the front of the room and brings me along with her to face the justice of the peace, self-assured in a way I’d only gotten glimpses of last winter.
She looks over and winks at me, and I can do nothing but stare at her while the woman in front of us speaks about how marriage is one of the few instances where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“When Beau’s father joined his hand with Sierra’s,” she tells our guests, “he told them to ‘be good for each other.’ Truer words could not have been spoken, as being good for each other is the work of a marriage. Honoring and cherishing each other, growing together throughout your life—that is where you go from here. The world will throw its share of difficulties your way, but as long as you weather them together, you can handle what life puts in front of you.”
She transitions to our vows, and I turn to face Sierra, taking her hands in mine and repeating the words that I’ve chosen to bind us together in marriage.
“I, Beau, take you, Sierra, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, and to love you and honor you all the days of my life.” A single tear slips down her cheek as she listens to my vows, and her voice is thick as she repeats hers.
Then Nate hands me her wedding ring, which I slip on her finger as I tell her, “I give you this ring as a sign of my love. I promise to care for you, to give you my trust, friendship, and support, and to respect and cherish you above all others.”
She’s amused when Jackson hands her my ring, and smiling when she repeats the words of the ring exchange.
And when the justice of the peace tells us I may now kiss my bride, I take her at her word and don’t hold back.
Sierra wraps herself around me like it’s been an eternity since she saw me instead of mere hours.
Then she pulls back, locks her eyes on mine, and tells me, “You are the best, most unexpected thing that’s ever happened to me. ”
I can’t wipe the smile off my face as we are presented as man and wife, and the way our guests cheer when we walk down the aisle, you’d think they just witnessed the impossible. And in a way, maybe they have. But with Sierra, everything feels possible.
THE END