Epilogue
Veronica
Three months later…
My dad’s deteriorated quite a bit over the last few months, so Millie’s moved home and moved in with him. The Heat built Dad a ramp at the house so he can use a walker or his wheelchair when he needs it. It’s amazing to have my sister home again, especially now.
“Dad? Millie? You ready?” I open the front door and call out loudly. “The guys are here to get you.”
Millie comes stampeding from the upstairs bedroom. We set Dad up with a bedroom in the den, which means Millie has a lot of privacy and a lot of space upstairs. She’s carrying her dress in a zippered bag and has a small overnight bag in her hand.
“Sis.” She drops the overnight bag on the floor and pulls me into a huge hug. “I love you. I love you. I love you, but I’m running late.” She frowns. “I started my period, and I feel like shit. Expect a lot more crying than normal.”
“Oh honey.” I grab her dress bag and overnighter. “I plan to do a lot of crying myself.”
Tank knocks on the door behind me. “Knock, knock. V, are you ready to go?”
My dad comes slowly walking from his first-floor bedroom, a walker in front of him to support his weight.
“We got to roll, ladies.” Tank grabs my sister’s things from me, and we load into a huge SUV. My father refuses extra help, and somehow he manages to get himself inside while Tank stashes the walker in the back.
We arrive at the resort, and Millie and I get Dad checked in to his room. Poppy and Clara are doing everyone’s hair. Holly and Daisy are my flower girls, while Jax is my ring bearer. Everyone is invited. All the people most important to me in the world and to Hawk too.
After my hair is styled and my makeup is done, I go back to my room to dress with my sister. She helps me put on the dress, and as soon as I’m fully ready, she starts sobbing.
“I’m going to ruin my makeup,” she sniffles, rushing to my bathroom for a tissue.
“Aw, sissy. I’m an emotional wreck too. I never thought I’d get married. And I never thought I’d get to spend forever with the sexiest, most thoughtful, sweet man on the planet.”
While Millie blows her nose and blots her eyes, I hear a knock at the door.
“I got it,” I tell her.
I look out the peephole, and it’s Hawk. I open the door without hesitation.
He’s wearing a midnight-blue suit with a lavender dress shirt and a navy-and-purple striped tie. His shoes are polished and sleek, and his beard is trimmed. He’s, of course, wearing sunglasses, which he pulls from his face to look at me.
“Sweet Jesus, V.” He shakes his head. “You look unbelievable. You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Just then, Millie stumbles out of the bathroom. She screams when she sees Hawk. “Out,” she cries. “It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. Go.”
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “There’s no bad luck. I’m not afraid.”
She sees the way I’m looking at Hawk and immediately bursts into tears again. “You look so happy,” she cries.
“Uh, Viper?” Hawk calls to the man who’s been hovering in the doorway. “A little help here?”
Viper’s dressed in navy dress pants and a white shirt, and the look on his face is sour enough to curdle milk. “She’s fucking crying,” he says, like my sister is a baby that just shit its pants. “What do I do with that?”
Millie glares at him and points a finger. “This is the happiest day of my sister’s life. Of course I’m going to cry, you heathen.” She storms out of my room and brushes past Viper, leaving him looking both pissed and confused.
“I’m not dealing with that,” he says. “I’m getting Stella.”
Once they are gone, Hawk closes the door. He stands and looks at me. “I’m afraid to touch you,” he says. “You look like a movie star.”
I flush and step closer. “You look gorgeous,” I tell him. “You clean up so good.”
He scoffs but leans forward to kiss me on the cheek. “I got you something. I wanted you to have it before the ceremony.”
He pulls a small satin bag out of the pocket of his dress pants.
“Hawk,” I shake my head, “what did you do?”
I open the bag and pull out a tiny, framed picture. On the back of the frame is a pin. The image inside the frame is of my mother.
“I figured you could pin it someplace like under your dress or on your flowers or something. So she’s here with you today.”
My eyes sting with tears as I throw myself into his arms. I hold him close, not worrying about wrinkling my dress or smearing my makeup.
I cup his face in my hands and thank him, whispering against his lips as I kiss him.
“I have something for you too,” I tell him.
I wasn’t planning on giving this to him until after the wedding, but now seems like the perfect time.
“Wait here.” I walk back to my bedroom and grab the card that’s on my bedside table.
I hand him the card and watch as he opens it. He cocks his head. “What is this?”
I come around beside him and explain the picture. “Jax drew this.”
I asked Jax to draw me a small motorcycle with two tires. Inscribed on the back tire is the word “Hawk’s,” and on the front tire it reads “Hope.”
“This symbolizes us,” I tell him. “I want it to be my first tattoo, and I want you to pick where it goes.”
He slaps his hands together and then rubs them loudly. “Hot damn. That’s fucking cool, babe. I totally love this. Thank you.”
He is kissing me when there’s a knock at the door. He opens it to Daisy, who looks incredibly put out. “You’re late,” she says, pointing at us both. “And you’re together. What are you doing? Let’s go, let’s go.” She grabs Hawk’s arm and drags him from my room, and I wave.
Millie finally comes back to get me, and she helps me pin the picture of Mom right beside a satin rosette at my waist. It’s so small that from a distance, it’s hard to tell what it is, but it suits the dress—and me—perfectly.
“Dad’s going to try to walk,” she tells me. “So, just take it slow. If it’s okay with you, I’ll walk with him.”
“Of course it is,” I tell her.
Millie and I meet Dad near the hotel’s back exit to the beach.
The wind is blowing lightly, and the sky is kissed with gold and pink over a beautiful whitecapped ocean.
Hawk stands under the arch, unmoving and strong, his sunglasses covering his eyes.
But when I walk onto the sand, he sticks his fingers under his sunglasses and wipes his eyes.
Holly and Daisy walk down the aisle ahead of me, looking so cute in their matching dresses, tossing flower petals to coat my path. Then Tank fires up a sound system, and music plays while Dad leans on his walker and Millie and I stand beside him. I am ready to take the next steps into forever.
When I lost my mom, a hole was torn in my heart, and it changed who I was as a person. For so many years, I didn’t even know that I was hiding a raw, open wound inside. A pain that could never heal. An injury that was soul-deep and so heavy.
I know now that no matter what the future holds, I’ll always have that part of myself missing. But the new love I have can help carry the weight of what I feel inside.
I will always miss my mother, and I’ll mourn the years I spent being too responsible, raising my sister, becoming serious and detached, choosing to find meaning in work and school instead of connections and relationships.
But that all shifts today.
As we take slow, unsteady steps down the path, I meet the eyes of the many people who have now become my family. The people who give my life more richness and meaning.
Stella, who’s gripping the arm of Blade and sobbing into a tissue.
Shadow and Violet, who are grinning and holding on to each other like today is their wedding day.
Savage and Claire, whose arms are wrapped around their daughter Aurora, squirming in a frilly purple dress.
Hawk’s uncle Jim and aunt Rox are holding hands, and I wonder if they’ll ever officially tie the knot or if they have the kind of happiness that’s just right for them.
No matter what, I’m glad Hawk has them, and I’m so, so glad I have an older couple to watch love each other, when so many of the marriages around us didn’t end as happily.
Phantom is standing up for Hawk. He’s under the flower arch looking serious and stern but with a hint of a warm smile as his eyes fall on his daughters, who walk ahead of me.
Poppy is in the front row with her sister, who is taking so many pictures I don’t know how she’s even seeing any of the action as it happens.
The walk down the aisle with my dad and sister is slow, but it gives me time. Time to appreciate who I am. Who I once was. Who I will be able to become in this new life I’m building. Even though I haven’t known Hawk for long, I know in my heart this is real.
I have no hesitation at all when I reach the flower arch, and my dad shakes Hawk’s hand and then pulls him into a bear hug. Millie hugs Hawk too, tears streaming down her face, and then she helps Dad get settled in the pristine white folding chair in the front row opposite Poppy.
When everyone has settled and the music stops, I step under the flower arch.
“You’re unbelievable,” Hawk whispers, having taken off his sunglasses. “A dream come true.”
“Is this everything you ever hoped for?” I whisper back.
He leans down and takes my hand. “Everything and so much more.”
We face each other, stare into each other’s eyes, and trade vows.
And when our lips meet after saying, “I do,” it seals every hope and dream we now share together.
Forever.