Epilogue
Fallon
A year and some change later…
My watch is buzzing like crazy, giving me the third relaxation reminder of the day. How can I relax when Jeb and I are about to pull off the greatest surprise ever?
A few weeks ago, lying in the bed of his truck, cushioned with plush blankets and a half dozen pillows underneath the stars, Jeb nonchalantly asked my thoughts on marriage. We’ve been living together for over a year, but we’d never discussed marriage before then.
I’d debated it plenty in my own brain, but we’d never articulated anything about tying the knot. In my mind, marriage was pretty much fated for us as soon as I let my guard down after my vacation with Shay. Nothing needed to be rushed, though.
The only reason I never mentioned it before is… I don’t want to be engaged.
I was Rhett’s fiancée, and I want to let him have that. I can’t fathom calling another man my fiancé. It’s just one of those things I don’t want to take away from him or me.
“No proposals.” I sigh into the little crevice by his neck when he asks. “I don’t want an engagement or a ring.”
“Just a wedding?” He grabs my hips, shifting me toward him, but I can tell he already knows the answer.
“Yeah, just a wedding.” I trace lines down his stomach with my fingers, one of my favorite things to do. “I want Rhett to be my only fiancé.”
“I’m here for that,” he says, pulling my hand up to his. “So, you want to just plan a wedding, then?”
“Yes.”
“Here, on the pier?”
“We’ll have a cookout and invite everyone?”
“End of August?”
“Corbin can officiate. He got ordained a few years ago.”
“Perfect. Let’s do it.”
“Can we keep it a secret and surprise everyone that day?”
“Fallon, yes! This is perfect.” He kisses me under the stars. "I love you more than all the stars in the sky."
"I love you more than the whole solar system," I giggle.
Jeb and I have worked our asses off for the past couple of weeks to make sure everyone is here, and everyone is surprised. Planning a surprise wedding is harder than you think. Especially when people have other plans, but you need them to be there for your wedding. Because when they decline, they think they are declining a run-of-the-mill cook-out, not a whole-ass wedding.
I peek out my bedroom window, counting the guests. Everyone’s here. Jeb’s dad is manning the grill. Shay and her new boyfriend are standing on the side of the house, fighting. My mom, Jeb’s mom, Rhett’s mom, a few of my aunts, and Mrs. Montgomery are chatting on the deck. Vaeda and Flora are fishing with Ford, and the rest of the guests are scattered around the yard.
Corbin is the only one who knows what’s about to happen because I had to prepare him for the nuptials. We had originally intended to get married on Labor Day weekend, but with Corbin headed back to college a couple of hours away, we bumped the wedding up a week.
“We need to do it before we eat,” I whisper to Jeb, even though we are alone in the bedroom. “The humidity’s killer today, and I don’t want my hair to look like shit.”
“How about we make the announcement, and then you can change into your dress. Or do you want to come out in the dress and surprise everyone that way?”
“Let’s make an announcement. Have everyone stand somewhere where they can see the pier, and we’ll do the wedding. The photographer is waiting in her car.”
“Fallon, you make me the luckiest man ever. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” He lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He buries his face in my hair. “You make me not want to leave this room.”
“I love you so much. Let’s go out there now. I can’t wait to become Mrs. Baker.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice.” He kisses me as my legs uncoil from around him.
“Jesus, guys.” Corbin comes out of the bathroom. “All that kissing, I was nervous I’d come out and see you both naked. Keep your dick in your pants until after the vows, new bro.” He grabs a napkin and throws it toward us, making us both laugh.
“Let’s go tell everyone.” Jeb grabs my hand, interlocking our fingers.
With my hand on the doorknob, Jeb stops me, pulling me backward. “Seriously, Jeb. We can’t fuck right now. The curls in my hair won’t survive it. Everyone will know.”
“No, Fal. I want to talk to Rhett for a minute.”
I’ve gotten used to this, too. My eyes used to water every time I caught him talking to Rhett’s picture, but now it’s second nature. He talks to him all the time.
“She’ll always be your fiancée, man. But today she’ll be my wife.” He touches the frame. “With stories of you as my guideline, I’ll always protect and cherish her just like you did. I vow to love her fiercely every minute of our lives. I promise to be a husband you’d be proud for her to have.”
I blink my tears away and send my own silent thoughts to Rhett, thanking him for sending Jeb to me on Easter morning last year.
Jeb squeezes my hand, and I unlock our fingers to grab his pinky. “You ready?” I ask.
“So ready.”
The two of us walk onto the deck and into the yard, where everyone can see us.
“Can we get everyone’s attention?” Jeb yells, and slowly, everyone quiets.
“Thanks to everyone for joining us today at our first party at Mrs. Montgomery’s lovely house. The weather is great and—”
“Hopefully the food will be even better!” Morris yells from the grill when I pause. The crowd claps and hoots.
“Fallon and I invite you all to find a spot under the oak tree. Make sure you can see the dock because…”
“Surprise!” We both shout at the same time, our interlocked pinkies in the air.
Jeb looks at me and nods. “You’re actually at our wedding!”
Cheers and tears flow from the crowd as I run inside to slip my simple but elegant wedding dress on. Jeb grabs the photographer then dons his suit, and the guests situate themselves under the oak tree. Corbin has my dad meet me in the house before he takes his place by the dock. Jeb hands a mini bouquet of flowers to all of the women here, all of them my honorary bridesmaids.
“Best decision, Fal. Gotta tell you, though, Jeb told me about it. Wanted to get my permission. I didn’t tell your mom. She would’ve told the whole town and ruined the surprise. You know, Jeb sure did grow on her. I think he likes him more than she likes Corb,” my dad jokes, but it could be true. My mom doesn’t have a bad thing to say about Jeb now that she actually knows him. It took a few months for the animosity to subside, but all is well now.
“Thanks, Dad.” I wipe a tear from my eye.
He kisses me on the cheek at the edge of the dock, where Jeb stands nervously. Corbin stands to the side where the dock meets the yard so that everyone can hear him.
We gave him free rein as far as the vows go, so I’m both excited and nervous for them. Jeb grabs my pinky with his and squeezes.
“Love you,” he whispers.
“Love you too,” I whisper back, “husband.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the wedding of Jeb Baker and Fallon McCann. First time I met Jeb, he puked in Fallon’s front flower bed, and look where they are now. I take like… fifty percent credit for this relationship because my friend ditched us on moving day, and we needed extra help, so I commandeered Jebby.” The crowd chuckles.
“He was weak, pale, and barely could finish a sentence, but look what it got him.” He points to Jeb and me. “It’s crazy I can’t get a normal girlfriend looking like this, but the Jeb from a year and a half ago scored my beautiful sister. Okay, I don’t want to get off track.” He looks at me, and I roll my eyes.
Corbin sticks to his notes for the rest of the ceremony. Our rings had been a secret from one another. Jeb picked out a gorgeous white gold wedding band covered with diamonds that fit perfectly against my engagement ring from Rhett. I had a custom wedding band made for Jeb with my fingerprint engraved on it. My pinky.
When Corbin pronounces us husband and wife, Jeb tilts me back so far that the end of my hair brushes the worn wood of the dock. He lifts me, tugging my body into his, and plants a long, lingering kiss on my lips. The crowd cheers and Shay passes out the champagne for the toast. Our photographer takes pictures of us with our family members while the food continues to cook.
The energy is buzzing, the guests are hyped. It’s a great day for a wedding. A great day for a surprise.
“I didn’t even know they were dating,” Morris recalls. “One day, he just left and never came back home, but he never said a word.”
“Well, we’d drive past Fallon’s to check to see if his truck was here, and it always was,” Eliza adds.
“If everyone can listen up, there’s one more surprise,” Jeb announces to the crowd with his hand in mine. I try to rack my brain about what the surprise could be. The cake we had specially made? That’s a surprise, but not one good enough to have everyone’s attention.
“Is she pregnant?” I hear Cara ask Dreya with a smile on her face.
“Not pregnant,” Jeb responds. “In fact, this is a surprise for Fallon, too. If everyone will turn your heads this way.” Jeb points to the house.
“That’s ours, Fallon,” he whispers so only I can hear.
“What?” I screech.
“Well, not yet, but it will be. We’re buying it from Mrs. Montgomery. As long as you still want it,” he tells me.
“What are they saying?” someone in the yard yells.
“Holy shit, Jeb. You’re kidding.” I jump into his arms, and he spins us. “How’d you do this?”
“I asked her.” He grins. “We’re going to settlement this week.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Fallon. We can put an addition on the house with a couple extra bedrooms so we can make lots of babies to run around this yard. They can fish with me and paint with you, and I’ll build a playset right there—” He points to the side of the yard.
“What is happening?” Our family and friends are getting antsy.
“We’re buying this house!” I shout, and the crowd roars.
“This house means so much to me, Fallon. I couldn’t give it up.”
“And we can visit the spot we said our vows every day.” I smile, putting my arms around him.
“That’s the plan. We can kiss fish on the dock, too.”
“I’d rather kiss you.”
“Same.” And he does.
“How spontaneous are you feeling right now?” I speak the words into his lips.
“You want to sneak inside and consummate our marriage while everyone’s out here celebrating us?”
“No, I want to run down the dock, jump in the river together, and kiss you.”
“In your dress?”
Before I can respond, my pinky is linked with his, and we’re barreling toward the Chetta, then splashing in the refreshing water. The guests mingle on shore while my husband holds me in the river, peppering kisses along my collarbone.
“Happy wedding day, baby.” He plucks a piece of grass from my shoulder and places a kiss on my lips.
“I love you.” I smile. “When can we get started on making those babies to run around the yard?”
“Tonight, if you’re ready.”