Epilogue
Cat
He was right about the ring. I love it, and the way he proposed—again.
He thought he should do it again properly because it was better than telling people I accepted his proposal months after he asked, while we were making love.
Two days after I accepted his proposal, he surprised me by getting his mother to watch Jace and taking me out to dinner.
Not to a fancy five-star restaurant, but dinner by candlelight in the middle of a rose garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Apparently he knew someone, pulled some strings, and we were in.
I was happily surprised for once. Surrounded by the flowers and trees and a warm gentle breeze that was unusual for an October night, under the open sky and a luminous full moon, he got down on one knee, took my hand, and asked me to marry him.
Slipping a sparkling, three-carat princess cut diamond on my finger, he said, “A princess for a princess.” With tears in my eyes I said, “Yes!”
I started planning the wedding immediately with Ava, who tried her damndest to strong-arm me into having the wedding of the year.
Nick and I decided we wanted a small, intimate wedding, with only close family and friends that are like family to us.
Gianna, Nick’s sister and Gage’s twin, is going to fly in for the wedding.
The BBG was the perfect venue for us. My father was very happy and supportive, but he was disappointed when I decided to walk by myself.
It felt right to give myself away to Nick; we were in this by ourselves from the beginning, and he already has me.
It took me three weeks to plan our wedding, as Nick didn’t want to wait.
He wanted to elope the night he put the ring on my finger, but I talked him out of it.
I may not want the big white wedding, but I want one with the people who are close to us.
My dad was coming, but I held off on the rest of my family.
Vanessa was invited, but she said Jay wasn’t coming, and I was all right with that.
My mother and Kate were a different story.
I decided to start talking to them when I told my father I was engaged, and he said I should tell them.
The first call to my mother was hard for me.
I told her my news, and she didn’t have one snide remark or comment.
She told me she loved me and she would support whatever decision made me happy.
I called Kate after my mother, and that was even harder—there were a lot of tears from her.
She wouldn’t stop apologizing. I finally had to tell her to stop, because the more she apologized the angrier it made me.
I don’t know why, but it did. Our conversation was very heated, mostly from me.
In my heart, I know she didn’t mean to push me down those stairs, but I’m angry.
Talking to her made me see that I’m angry for everything from the beginning, not just what happened on the stairs.
She asked me if I would go to a therapy session with her, and then one with her and my mother, to resolve some things.
I said I would think about it, because I had to talk to Nick first. He almost blew a hole in the roof when I told him.
Three days later, after he’d had time to think about it, he said if I really wanted to go, he was going with me.
I told him that wouldn’t be a good idea, so he agreed to let Chris go with me.
He called me every fifteen minutes until I had to turn my phone off.
I went to both sessions, and I thought that was enough for me.
I learned a few things about the issues Kate had, and I got to vent.
My mother wasn’t as cooperative as she should have been in the group session.
She refused to do the exercises and kept answering the therapist’s questions with her own questions.
She’s a work in progress, and I think she and Kate need to keep seeing the therapist together.
I’m done. I’ve decided to give them one last chance, and the way to do that is to invite them to my wedding.
Nick didn’t take this well at all. It took him two weeks and speaking to Kate’s therapist, who reassured him she wasn’t a danger to me or Jace, to finally convince him to agree to invite them.
So here I am now, the night before our wedding, in the garage with Nick, his hands covering my eyes. “Nick, what are we doing down here?” I try to tug his hands down but he holds them firmly in place.
“I bought you an early wedding present. I couldn’t wait.” He kisses me on the back of my neck and takes his hands off my eyes. “Surprise! I bought you an Audi A3.”
Oh my God. I love it. “I love it!” I spin around, jumping up and down, wrapping my arms around him before running over to the car excitedly, running my hand over the silver paint.
“I thought you were going to refuse.”
He walks up behind me and I sit on the hood, parting my legs and putting my arms around his neck.
“I’m done refusing. Life is short, I’m taking it all.
” I smile, and he bends his head, kissing me deeply.
I can’t wait till my doctors tell me I’m clear to drive.
The seizures I had in the hospital set me back a bit on that.
“I didn’t get you anything. I didn’t know we were going to exchange gifts. ”
He holds me tighter, staring into my eyes. “When you agreed to marry me and you gave me my son, you gave me the most valuable gifts in this world. There is absolutely nothing you can give me that will compare.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and let out a breath. “I love you, Nicholas Alexander. I will always love you.”
“For what I’ve been through, you better.”
I laugh and he laughs with me, our foreheads pressed together, locking lips.
“Ava, what is going on with you? You’ve been giddy all morning, and I know you’re not that excited I’m getting married.
” She grabs my hand, spinning me around in my wedding dress, giggling like an idiot.
“Ava, please! I’m nervous enough as it is, you’re going to make me hurl all over my wedding dress.
” She stops, holding me steady while my head stops spinning.
“Cat, we did it!”
“Did what?” I don’t know what she’s talking about.
“Chris and I did it! Did it!”
“You and Chris had sex?”
“Yes. And it was amazing.”
“How did that happen? I knew you guys have been friendlier, but I didn’t know you were that friendly.”
“Since you and Nick decided you weren’t going to spend the night apart or do the whole bachelor and bachelorette thing, we decided the best man and the maid of honor would do it for you, in your honor of course.”
“Of course,” I say dryly.
“Hey, we had to keep some traditions, especially since you cheated me out of planning a raunchy bachelorette party.”
“Well, excuse me for not wanting some sweaty, oiled-up muscle bound man gyrating all over me with coconut oil ass fumes slapping me in the face. I have Nick for that now. He’s more than willing to oil up for me.”
“Ew.”
“Like I want to hear about you and my brother. Go on with the story and leave out the ew parts.”
“We went out for drinks and talked about when we were all kids. How it was blowing our minds, you and Nick having a child and getting married and everything in between. We had a really good time dancing and playing darts. It was late, and he drove me home. I asked him if he was ready for the night to end. He said no. I turned to him in the door and said, ‘it doesn’t have to.’ He told me he couldn’t promise me anything.
I told him I’m not holding him to anything we do or don’t do.
He pulled my shirt over my head and we fell into my room. ”
“Stop there. You seem happy and fine,” I say, my forehead creased with concern.
“I am. Don’t bring me down off my high, Cat.”
I don’t want to burst her bubble, but Chris is going to be hard to take down as far as committed relationships go.
Ava can deny it all she wants, but I know she wants Chris to commit to more than a one-night stand.
Ah, hell. Why should I be the only one happy on my wedding day?
“If you’re happy, I’m happy. Now go out there and tell them I’m ready to marry my man. ”
As she opens the door, Isabelle and Chloe come tumbling in.
“Oh my God! You look-so beautiful,” Isabelle says, fanning her eyes, on the verge of tears.
“Isabelle, don’t you shed a tear in here and make me cry,” I say.
“I’m sorry, but, you’re so...beautiful.” And she bursts into tears.
“Oh, knock it off,” Chloe tells her, moving her to the side. “You act like you’ve never seen a bride before. Cat, good luck. Go out there and knock ’em dead.” She turns her head to the side and wipes a finger under her eye.
“Chloe, is that a tear I see in your eye?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a little dust,” she says to me, her voice not as steady as before. “Oh shut up, and come here,” she says, making me smile, and grabs me into a bear hug that rivals my dad’s.
Laughing, Ava says, “I didn’t know you had a sentimental bone in your body, Chloe.”
Isabelle smashes her body into us, joining the hug, tears streaming down her face. This is comical, and I’m holding my tears back by a thread. My girls are great.
When they leave, Ava goes to look for Nick and I check my makeup one more time, looking at myself in the mirror.
I look like a magazine bride in a simple, form-fitting A-line satin and lace dress.
My hair is swept up and back with curls, two diamond pins holding them in place.
Nick’s mother loaned them to me for my something old; they were Nick’s grandmother’s.
Diamond studs, matching cross pendant, and the cascading diamond bracelet Nick gave me the night we made Jace were my something new and blue.
I can’t believe next month is going to make a year.
There’s a knock at the door. I take one last look and answer it.