Epilogue
BERNADETTE
The movers had just left, and my entire life sat in cardboard boxes stacked in Sebastian’s spare bedroom. Well, our spare bedroom now, I supposed.
“This is surreal,” I said, surveying the boxes labeled in my neat handwriting.
Sebastian wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. “What’s surreal? That you’re finally moving in, or that it took you three months to agree to it?”
“Both.” I leaned back against him, still marveling at how natural this felt. How right. “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.”
“Believe it, beautiful. You’re stuck with me now.” He kissed my neck, and I felt the smile against my skin. “Though I have to say, I’m a little offended you didn’t bring more furniture. Your IKEA bookshelf has character.”
“That IKEA bookshelf is held together with duct tape and prayers.”
“Still. It got you through college. It deserves respect.”
I turned in his arms to face him. “Your furniture is from actual designers whose names I can’t pronounce. My furniture came out of a box.”
He grinned that devastating smile that still made my stomach flip even after months of seeing it every day. “Well, we can buy new stuff together. Stuff that’s ours.”
“Buying furniture like an actual grownup,” I said.
“You didn’t feel like a grownup before? Should I remind you of the very grownup things we did last night on that very couch?”
I slapped at him. “Stop it. I mean living with a man.”
“A man? That’s all I am, a man?”
I rolled my eyes. Sebastian rarely took anything serious. He was definitely the Yin to my Yang.
He kissed me and I knew exactly what that tongue action signaled. I was just starting to think we could postpone unpacking when he pulled away. “As much as I’d love to christen the spare bedroom, we have a baby shower in an hour.”
“Right. Elizabeth’s shower.” I glanced at the boxes. “Should we unpack some of these first?”
“Nope. Future us can deal with it. Present us needs to go celebrate my impending uncle-hood.” He was already pulling me toward the bedroom. “Come on. You need to change, and I need to make sure you don’t wear something sensible.”
“What’s wrong with sensible?”
“Nothing, when you’re at work making sure no one dies from rogue lighting rigs. But this is a party. You’re allowed to be a little less safety coordinator and a little more sexy girlfriend.”
I rolled my eyes but let him pick out a dress from my newly claimed section of his enormous closet.
And said section was stuffed with more couture than one of those fancy shops on Fifth Avenue.
I had a ton of Blackwell stuff, but other designers had flooded me with their items. My little Venus thing turned me into some kind of pseudo-influencer.
They wanted me to wear their stuff out and about so I’d get photographed in it.
Then they bought the pics and used them to promote their designs on social media.
I thought that was like cheating on my man, but Sebastian told me it was fine.
Big events with media, I was encouraged to wear Blackwell but it wasn’t mandatory.
I couldn’t remember the last time I wore a severe pantsuit.
I felt like a butterfly that had finally climbed out of its cocoon. I loved pink and purple, it turned out.
“Perfect,” Sebastian declared, looking me up and down in a way that made me blush when I stepped into the living room. “Dammit, I want to stay home and—”
“Nope. We’re leaving. You are not messing up my hair. We’re late for everything because you do that and then I have to fix my hair.”
He winked. “You like when I do that.”
“Let’s go.”
Working at Blackwell Couture had been everything my father’s insurance company hadn’t been.
Creative, collaborative, full of people who actually seemed to enjoy their jobs.
I spent my days reviewing safety protocols for photo shoots and fashion shows.
It was still rules and regulations—I’d never escape my nature entirely—but now those rules were protecting people I cared about while they created something beautiful.
And the Blackwells had welcomed me with open arms. Adrian still terrified me a little, but in a respectful way.
And Elizabeth had become my best friend. Mimi was the mother I never had.
“Ready?” Sebastian asked, grabbing the elaborately wrapped gift we’d bought. It was a designer diaper bag that cost more than my first car.
“Ready. Though I still think you’re going to be the only man there.”
“Good. More cake for me.”
The baby shower was at a gorgeous event space in SoHo, decorated in soft yellows and greens since Elizabeth and Adrian were keeping the sex a surprise. Women milled around with champagne glasses, cooing over tiny clothes and making predictions about whether it would be a boy or girl.
Sebastian was completely unfazed by being the only person there with a Y chromosome.
“Snack buddy!” Elizabeth called from across the room, her hand resting on her very prominent baby bump.
They fist-bumped.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, hugging Elizabeth carefully.
“Huge. Exhausted. Constantly hungry. The usual.” She glowed despite her complaints. “I’m so glad you’re here. Sebastian, there’s a dessert table calling your name.”
“You know me so well.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll go investigate the sugar situation. You two gossip.”
He wandered off, and Elizabeth linked her arm through mine. “So? How’s the move going?”
“Surreal. I keep waiting for something to go wrong.”
“Why would something go wrong?”
“Because things don’t just… work out. Not for me.” I shook my head. “Sorry, that’s my trauma talking.”
“You deserve happiness, Bernadette. You and Sebastian both.”
Someone called for everyone to gather for games.
Teams were assigned and I, of course, ended up with Sebastian.
I wasn’t a jealous person, but none of these bitches were going to be teaming up with my man.
The first game was absolutely nasty. Licking what looked like actual shit out of a diaper and guessing what kind of melted candy bar it was.
I gagged. Sebastian laughed until it was his turn. Then he gagged just like the rest of us.
Then it was Pictionary time.
“Bernadette and Sebastian, you’re up,” the hostess said. “Sebastian, you’re drawing.”
He bounded up to the easel, grabbing the black marker and flashing his money maker. His smile.
The timer started, and he began drawing.
A circle. Okay, lots of baby things were circles.
A smaller circle inside it. Maybe an areola?
“Pacifier!” I shouted.
He shook his head, adding more details.
“Bottle? Rattle? That toy thing that babies chew on?”
More head shaking. He added what looked like a band around the circle.
The women around me were all whispering and it actually pissed me off a little.
Did they get it? I was such a non-creative. I needed black and white and obvious. My imagination was broken. Unless I was imagining a million and one ways to die.
“I don’t understand. Is it a wheel? A plate? A CD?” I was grasping at straws now. “Sebastian, what are you drawing?”
He added a small square on top of the band, and something clicked in my brain.
“Is that a ring? Babies don’t wear rings, honey.”
The room went completely silent.
Sebastian set down the marker, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small velvet box.
Oh my God.
My hands flew to my mouth.
“Bernadette Simmons.” He dropped to one knee right there in front of Elizabeth and Mimi and thirty other women who were all either crying or filming on their phones.
“When I first met you, you terrorized me with a ninety-page safety binder that I definitely didn’t read.
Still haven’t. You infuriated me. You made me want to scream in frustration on more than one occasion. ”
Laughter rippled through the room. My eyes were already filling with tears because his words sounded terrible without context, but I knew the context, and to me, they were the sweetest words he could say.
“And somewhere in there, between the falling coconuts and the tropical storms and you calling me an irresponsible idiot, I fell completely in love with you.” He opened the box, revealing a ring that caught the light and made my breath stop.
“I love your rules and your checklists and the way you make me want to be better while simultaneously making me want to see just how bad it would be to stick my finger in a light socket. I love how you fit into my family like you’ve always been there.
I love you, my Little Bee. Will you marry me? ”
I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Could only stare at this beautiful, ridiculous man who’d somehow seen past my armor to the person underneath.
“Yes.” The word came out as half-laugh, half-sob. “Yes, you dramatic, impossible, infuriating man. Of course I’ll marry you.”
The room erupted in cheers as he slid the ring onto my finger. He kissed me, nearly knocking me out of my chair. He stood up and pulled me against his body for another tongue-infused kiss that was definitely inappropriate with his mother ten feet away.
But he didn’t care.
And in the moment, neither did I.
When we finally came up for air, I was dizzy and crying and laughing all at once.
“You proposed to me at someone else’s baby shower,” I said.
“Elizabeth knew. I asked permission.”
“You drew the worst ring I’ve ever seen.”
“Hey, you figured it out eventually.”
“I love you so much, and you’re absolutely insane.”
“Lucky for me, you’re into that.” He kissed me again, softer this time. “Welcome to the family, future Mrs. Blackwell.”
Mimi descended on us with tears streaming down her face, pulling us both into a hug. “Another wedding! Oh, my boys are finally settling down. Your father would be so happy, Sebastian.”
“I know, Mom.”
Elizabeth waddled over, beaming. “Okay, that was the most unhinged proposal I’ve ever heard. I wasn’t sure if you were going to kill each other or bang each other right there on the floor.”
“It was very aggressive,” Mimi said. “I don’t think sweet romance is your thing.”
“I loved it,” I said. “Very inappropriate and somehow perfect.”
“You two are meant for each other,” Elizabeth said.
After the baby shower, we practically raced home. I couldn’t wait to be alone with him. My eyes dropped to the ring on my finger.
And suddenly I was crying.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sebastian asked. “Do you want a bigger stone? Princess cut? I went back and forth and thought the cushion was more your style.”
I laughed through my tears. “You idiot. The ring is perfect.”
“I’ve seen your happy tears—those aren’t it.”
I sighed. “I was just thinking I wish I had family to share this moment with. I want to show my dad.”
I hadn’t spoken to my father since I packed up my desk and that was a conversation I never wanted to think about. He’d been cold as ice. Frigid.
And in that moment, I realized my father never saw me as a daughter. He saw me as an employee. The heir to his throne when the time came.
“We are your family now. You have three brothers, a sister, and a mom who all love you. Soon, you’re going to have a nephew.”
“Or niece.”
“Nope, definitely a nephew. Sebastian the Second. But you are loved, Bernadette. You are so loved. You’re mine.”
My throat tightened with emotion. Six months ago, I’d been alone in a sterile office, working for a father who valued money over everything else. Now I was surrounded by people who cared about me, doing work I loved, engaged to a man who saw me—really saw me—and loved what he found.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“For seeing me. For loving me. For giving me a life I can enjoy and not just have to get through.”
“You gave yourself all of this. You were brave enough to walk away from what wasn’t working and build something new. I just got lucky enough to be part of it.”
“You’re stuck with me now,” I said. “No backsies.”
“No backsies.” He nodded. “You’re my forever.”
“And you’re mine.”
***