Epilogue
Tristan
A Year and a Half Later
What’s in that brain of yours? Static? Elevator music? When I said I wanted a flower arch between the ambulance and the truck, how is this what you thought I meant?!”
Maybe not the most conventional place to get married, but it was the right decision for us.
Even though we didn’t meet here for the first time, it’s the place where we fell in love, and a place that matters deeply to both of us.
I’m no longer a firefighter—even though I’ve long-since healed from my injuries from the earthquake, I have found that I love working as an EMS coordinator and training officer.
It’s not the same as being in the field every day, but it’s been nice that at least one of us never works overnight shifts.
I can always stay home with Abigail, drop her off at school, and pick her up.
And when I can’t, Nick’s parents are still a huge help.
Even Dad and Bobbie help out when they can—though it’s mostly Bobbie, as Dad’s condition has continued to deteriorate.
But he loves being a step-grandfather, and even when he doesn’t always remember who Abigail is (or even who Nick is, or, occasionally, who I am), he always knows who matters.
Dad and Bobbie are here today, sitting in the front row in folding chairs. My mother is here, too, with her partner, Craig. She nearly swooned when she saw Nick in his firefighter captain uniform.
And who can blame her? He’s hot as hell.
We’re both technically off duty today, so I'm wearing a simple white linen suit instead of my uniform. I have a fresh haircut and a white rose pinned to my lapel.
Charlie and Vinnie scramble to fix the “flower arch” that they tried to set up in the apparatus bay, but nothing is to Mila’s liking, and finally, I intervene and tell them that it’s fine. We’re just happy to be getting married, flower arch or no flower arch.
“You sure?” Mila asks. She’s been taking her responsibility as officiant/day-of coordinator very seriously.
“Completely sure.”
This isn’t the wedding I thought I would have.
Warren had wanted a massive wedding in a church, with hundreds of guests and an hours-long reception. The only guests here today are our families, some SFFD employees, and a handful of friends. It’s small and intimate, and it’s absolutely perfect.
Chasten and Yale, my only groomsmen, appear from behind the ambulance, running over to me.
“I think I lost the rings,” Chasten said, his face pale.
“We looked everywhere,” Yale adds. “I promise it wasn’t me who lost it.”
Chasten glares at him. “You said we’d take the fall together.”
Yale raises his hands. “Every man for himself, babes.”
I roll my eyes. “You didn’t lose the rings, because I never gave them to you.”
Chasten seems to deflate. “Really? Shit, I thought I was gonna have to go rob a jewelry store or something.”
I pull the rings from my pocket. “Nope. No larceny today. Can you keep track of these?”
He crosses himself. “God, I hope so.”
“Maybe I should take them,” Yale offers.
“I’m very responsible,” Chasten insists.
“You didn’t even remember that he hadn’t given you the rings!”
“Ladies, stop fighting!” I say, laughing around the words. “It’s my wedding day.”
Chasten and Yale shrug at each other, like they can put their argument on hold for my wedding.
Chasten grins. “You excited?”
I match his smile. “Oh yes.”
“Places!” Mila screeches, and we all scramble to where we need to be. One of the engine firefighters strikes up a lovely song on the cello.
Nick and I enter from opposite sides of the apparatus bay. I walk myself down the aisle; Abigail walks him. At the front of the “aisle” (the space between the ladder truck and the engine truck), we face each other in front of Mila.
“Dearly beloved,” Mila begins dramatically. Behind Nick, I see Charlie and Vinnie roll their eyes.
Nick winks at me.
He has never, in my opinion, looked better, with his crisp Captain’s uniform, his buzzed dark hair, and his phenomenal cheekbones.
This is the man I love. The man I am going to marry. My future husband.
“Do we have to start that way?” Nick asks, and everyone laughs.
Mila huffs. “But that’s what You Can Be Ordained Too Dot Com said I should say.”
More laughter in the fire station, and Nick squeezes my hands.
“We won’t interrupt you,” I promise Mila. “You’re doing great.”
“I know,” she says.
She clears her throat. “Okay, everyone ready?”
Behind me, Chasten cheers. Yale shushes him.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Mila says. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to—”
She doesn’t finish, because, just then, the tones go off.
“Fuck!” Mila snaps.
All the firefighters who are on duty immediately scramble to their vehicles.
“Everyone out of the way!” Nick shouts—even off-duty, he is so hot in “captain mode.”
“But the wedding!” Mila shrieks.
“We’ll postpone until they’re back!” Nick shouts over the tones.
Captain Salazar, the shift captain for this shift, glances our way as she hops in the ladder truck.
“Wanna ride along?” she offers.
Nick and I share a glance. He shrugs at me, and I shrug at him.
“Why not?” Nick says. He squeezes my hand. “One last ride?”
I nod. “I like that idea.”
And he smiles at me, his beautiful, wonderful, goddamn smile. “I like you,” he whispers. Then, he kisses me, and we run together towards the truck.
The End