Epilogue #3
“He’s better now that he’s let up on the queasiness.” They had no idea what they were having and weren’t planning to find out, but Erin had a feeling they were expecting a boy, who would arrive in March.
“I’m so glad you’re feeling better for Hawaii.”
“Me, too, although I’m still not sure how you talked me into twelve hours of flying.”
“I’ll be there to make it go by fast, and you’ll be so glad you did it when you see how beautiful Hawaii is. Besides, we both know there’s nothing to be afraid of when you’re flying first class.”
“That’s very true.”
“This is gonna be quick,” he whispered when they landed together on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs and desperate kisses.
“Quick is good.”
When they were first together, he’d had reason to wonder if she would find the courage to give them a shot, but once she’d decided to go for it, she’d been all in. And all-in Erin was the best thing to ever happen to him.
He slid into her and threw back his head, needing a minute to get himself together before he made this too quick. “God, Erin…”
“I know. Me, too. Me, too.”
For the longest time, he only held her, not moving as he breathed her in.
The press of her breasts against his chest and the squeeze of her internal muscles around his cock made him crazy.
Being with her, making love to her… If there was anything better than that, he’d yet to find it.
“Love you so much. You can’t ever leave me. I’d never get over it.”
“I love you just as much, and I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Promise?”
She nodded and smiled, caressing his face and running her fingers through his hair.
Everything about her just did it for him.
Slim wished they had time to do nothing but this for the rest of the day, but his brother’s family was due to arrive in an hour, and her parents would be back at some point.
He would spend the rest of the day looking forward to being alone with her again later. In the meantime, he picked up the pace.
She was right there with him, in perfect sync as they raced toward a finish that had them straining and clinging and gasping from the sweet pleasure they found together.
After, he closed his eyes and slipped into the blissful state that always followed sex with her. “You’ve wrecked me.”
“I’ve wrecked you? I was minding my own business until a hot guy on a motorcycle showed up.”
“Mmm, it’s all your fault.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. I was worried.”
He hated to hear that. “What about?”
“You. Flying. You know how I get…”
He knew all about the many ways past trauma manifested itself in her daily life.
He’d grown accustomed to her OCD rituals and accommodated them because he knew they brought her peace of mind, but he wished she didn’t suffer the way she did.
“I’m sorry you were worried and I wasn’t here to tell you everything would be okay. ”
“It’s much easier when you’re around to keep me calm.”
“I’m here, and everything is perfect. This is going to be the best weekend of our lives.”
They scored a perfect summer day for their wedding, with bright sunshine, low humidity and not a cloud in the sky.
Erin had thought this day would never arrive.
They’d set the date months ago, sent the email to their friends, made arrangements with the town to use the lighthouse grounds and reserved a block of rooms at the Sand & Surf for their out-of-town guests.
Yesterday, Slim had overseen the digging of a pit on the beach that he’d lined with seaweed for the New England clambake they would serve their guests.
And now it was show time, and Erin couldn’t have been more excited.
The only thing that would’ve made this day better was having her beloved twin brother there to share in her joy.
Over the last few days, she’d thought of Toby more than she had in a long time.
He was always on her mind, but he’d been more present than usual as she counted down to the biggest day of her life.
She’d relived the last time she saw him repeatedly. They’d been at odds that weekend in the Hamptons, which was rare for them. He’d come right out and told her that Mitch, the man she’d recently moved in with, wasn’t good enough for her. “Someday,” Toby had said, “you’ll know what I mean.”
When Erin thought about how she’d wanted to punch him for saying that, she could only laugh now at how right he’d been.
She was so glad she hadn’t married Mitch.
He was a good man who’d tried his best to support her after the devastating loss of her brother before giving up on their relationship a year later.
It had taken meeting Slim for Erin to finally understand what Toby had wanted for her.
Her Toby had sent Tobias Fitzgerald Jackson Junior to find her the night she sprained her ankle. Of that she had no doubt, and the thought gave her comfort that her brother was always close by.
She heard voices on the floor below the bedroom where she’d gotten dressed. The new lighthouse keeper was due to arrive in the next week, but for now, the magical place where she’d fallen in love with Slim was all theirs.
“Knock, knock,” her mom, Mary Beth, said. “Are you decent?”
“I am. Come on up.”
Her parents came up the spiral stairs into the room that held so many special memories for Erin, most of them involving the man she was about to marry.
“Oh, honey,” Mary Beth said, fighting tears. “You look so beautiful.”
“Sensational,” her dad, Tom, added, blinking back tears of his own.
Erin had gone with a simple halter-style white dress with a small train and had left her hair down the way Slim liked it best. “Thanks, guys.”
“We’re so very happy for you and Slim,” Mary Beth said. “In case you haven’t noticed, we adore him.”
“He loves you, too.” They’d spent quite a lot of time with her parents after her dad suffered an aneurism that had required emergency surgery. He was almost completely recovered now. Giving her away at her wedding had been one of his primary goals during rehab.
Erin held out her hands to them. “I don’t want to make us all into wrecks before the ceremony, but I just want to say… I’m so thankful to both of you for everything.”
“We’re just as thankful to you.” Mary Beth held Erin’s hand and her husband’s. “We say all the time that we never would’ve survived losing Toby if it hadn’t been for our sweet girl.”
They shared a tearful group hug that ended when Jenny arrived. “Hello up there! Is anyone ready to get married?”
“Come on up,” Erin said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue her mother provided.
Jenny bounded up the stairs, bringing bouquets for both of them. She stopped short at the sight of the bride. “Oh, Er... You’re gorgeous.”
Jenny should’ve been her sister-in-law, and Erin’s bond with her had deepened during the years of grief and disbelief that had followed Toby’s death. They referred to each other as sister-friends, and there was no one else Erin would’ve asked to be her matron of honor.
The two women embraced carefully so they wouldn’t crease Erin’s dress or smash the colorful bouquets.
“Toby would be so, so happy you chose Slim.”
“I think so, too. He’d also be very smug about how right he was.”
Jenny laughed. “Yes, he would.” She pulled back from the hug to hand Erin her bouquet, which was made up of white lilies and hydrangeas.
She’d told Jenny to wear whatever she wanted and loved the lilac-colored dress she’d chosen and the bouquet of purple hydrangeas she carried. “We clean up pretty good, huh?”
“You certainly do,” Mary Beth said, beaming at both of them. Jenny was like a daughter to Mary Beth and Tom, who were doting extra grandparents to Jenny’s son, George.
Somehow, someway, the four of them had survived and thrived and found a way forward through the darkness and back into the light.
It was what Toby would’ve wanted for them. He would’ve been devastated if his death had ruined their lives, too. Erin was comforted knowing that he’d be proud of them for carrying on when it would’ve been so much easier not to.
“Slim is waiting for you,” Jenny said. “He told me to tell you to hurry up.”
“The man has no patience.”
Jenny crooked an eyebrow. “I think he’s proven otherwise, wouldn’t you say?”
Erin laughed at the question and the raised eyebrow. “You’re right. He has. Let’s do it.”
She followed the others down two spiral staircases to the mudroom, where she glanced at the wall against which she and Slim had once had wild sex. Life with him was never boring, that was for sure.
In the yard, where Jenny had thrown tomatoes at Alex, who was now her husband, Erin’s parents escorted her to the spot at the edge of the property where she and Slim had chosen to exchange vows.
They’d asked retired Superior Court Judge Frank McCarthy to officiate, and every one of the hundred and fifty chairs they’d borrowed from the Wayfarer was filled with family and friends from Gansett, West Palm Beach, Pennsylvania and California.
Everyone who mattered to them had come, but Erin saw only Slim.
Tall and broad-shouldered, he was devastatingly handsome in the navy suit he’d bought for the occasion.
He wore a white dress shirt without a tie, per her request because she knew how much he hated them, and a white rose on his lapel.
His dark hair ruffled in the light breeze, and his warm brown eyes were fixed on her as she made her way toward him.
Owen Lawry played an acoustic version of the song “Please” that they’d fallen in love with while watching The Voice together on the phone during the months they’d spent apart after they first met. The song had come to mean so much to them, and hearing it now brought tears to Erin’s eyes.
She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry, but now that the moment was upon her, she realized she was fighting a losing battle with her emotions.