Epilogue
Juliet
My hands trembled slightly as I adjusted the long sheer veil behind me, the length spilling behind me and getting lost in the length of my dress to where you couldn’t see where one started and the other ended.
The delicate lace flowers spilled over the ornately patterned carpet of The Plaza Hotel, creating a white meadow that trailed behind my white satin shoes.
“It looks perfect,” said Gabriella reassuringly as she stepped up beside me, clutching a bouquet of white roses tied with a simple white ribbon.
“You look perfect,” said Sadie, stepping up on the other side of me, wearing an identical dress to Gabriella’s. Pale pink, and silky, the fabric catching the light from the chandelier that hung above us.
“Thank you for being here,” I said, smiling at them both.
“Are you kidding?” asked Sadie, raising a brow as she tossed her auburn hair over her shoulders, the loose waves cascading down her back.
“You’re getting married,” said Gabriella, nudging me. She grinned at me, her dark brown eyes sparkling with tears threatening to form.
“Don’t do that,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t cry and ruin this beautiful makeup.”
She laughed softly. “You know you’re going to cry when you see Chester…”
“Have you seen him?” I asked eagerly.
She nodded, a smile spreading across her lips.
“And?” I asked, feeling my impatience growing. I wanted to see him. He was so close, but so far. Just on the other side of the heavy wooden doors in front of me.
“He told me to give you this,” said Gabriella, pulling a note from the neckline of her dress. She held it out for me between two fingers and I eagerly plucked it from her hand. I unfolded it quickly and saw three simple words.
I love you.
I smiled down at his handwriting etched in black against the crisply folded white paper. It was just the message I needed to read to calm my nerves fluttering around in my stomach.
Simple.
So different from our story of how we came to be. A mess of an office affair, blackmail, arrests, lawsuits, and an unexpected pregnancy. It was amazing to have beat the odds. To have chosen each other through it all. Our love story, as complicated as it was, was getting its happy ending.
The heavy wooden doors opened slightly and my wedding planner popped her head out, her brown hair pulled up in a tight bun and her green eyes dancing with excitement as her eyes landed on me.
“You ready?” she asked in her melodic voice.
“Mhmm.” I nodded.
“Coming! Coming!” said a voice that approached from down the long hallway.
I smiled, turning to see Sarah in her matching bridesmaid dress and carrying my daughter. My beautiful three-month-old daughter who was giving me a gummy smile as her own pale pink dress exploded around her in lace and tulle.
“Hi, baby girl,” I said, leaning in to kiss her nose as Sarah cradled her in the crook of her arm, a basket of fresh rose petals strewn in her other arm.
“And hi to you,” I said, looking up at my now best friend.
Sarah grinned at me from underneath her bluish black bangs that sat just above her thick brows.
“Flower girl is reporting for duty,” said Sarah.
“Blair, you look so beautiful,” gushed Gabriella, tickling my daughter’s rosy cheeks.
Blair cooed at her, making us all melt.
“The music is starting,” said my wedding planner, a little hint of rush in her voice.
I nodded, tightening the grip on my bouquet. I watched as Sarah and Blair slipped through the door, followed by Gabriella and Sadie in a line. When the door closed behind them, I swallowed hard, gathering myself for this huge moment in my life, my emotions threatening to pour out of me.
“Keep it together,” I whispered, just as the doors opened leading into a room that was absolutely breathtaking.
I let out a gasp as I took my first step down the aisle, surrounded by white roses in glass vases and tea light candles twinkling in a warm glow that matched the crystal chandelier hanging overhead, casting rainbow prisms along the walls.
My eyes ran slowly up the aisle, landing on the man of my dreams, making everything else suddenly disappear.
I let out a quiet sob. Chester stood at the end of the aisle in a black tuxedo, his strong hands crossed in front of him, as a single tear ran down his cheek and landed in the crook of his smile.
It felt like my satin shoes were floating down the aisle toward him, my chest thudding in my chest, so loud, I swore people could hear it over the string quartet.
At the end of the aisle, he stepped down the glossy white stairs and held out his hand, helping me up to stand beside him.
The warmth of his hand enraptured me as I stared up at his handsome face, still damp with tears.
He mouthed “hello” to me and I smiled back at him, my own tears now falling.
He wiped them away gently with his thumb just as the minister began the ceremony.
I wished I could remember every word spoken, and I knew it was on video somewhere, but I was so focused on Chester that everything seemed to fall out of focus.
Words. People. The smell of roses. All I could see was him.
All I could feel was him. It was like we were in our own little world, pronouncing the words we had been waiting to say to each other.
I do.
We sealed our vows with a kiss, soft and loving, followed by a low dip as I laughed softly, staring up at Chester who had that sexy smirk on his face.
The one I loved so much. We walked down the aisle, carrying Blair between us, nuzzling her soft, round face.
I mentally captured the moment to memory in my head, a polaroid that would live with me forever.
The photographer gathered us and the bridal party for a few pictures before leaving us to celebrate with our closest friends before we joined the reception that people would be filtering into after the cocktail hour.
I couldn’t help but notice during the photos, that Sarah seemed a little distant, like her mind was elsewhere.
She tried her best to put on a smile, but I could see through it.
When the groomsmen and bridesmaids were popping open a bottle of champagne, I pulled her aside. I hooked my arm through hers and studied her face.
“What?” she asked with a shrug.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said nonchalantly, but I caught the high pitch to her voice that told me she wasn’t being fully honest.
I was about to press further when I felt familiar hands wrap their way around my waist and pull me in. I breathed in the sandalwood and closed my eyes, my body arching into the warmth of Chester’s body.
My husband’s body.
I looked up at him and smiled.
“May I steal my bride away?” he asked Sarah.
“Of course.” She smiled and waved us off, turning away and joining the rest of the bridal party.
Chester slid his hands up my arms and grabbed my hands, gently pulling me to follow him down the long hallway toward the lobby of the hotel.
“Where are we going?” I asked, laughing softly as I tried to keep up with his quick stride.
“If I stare at you any longer in that dress, there’s no telling if I’ll rip it off at the reception,” he said, his eyes wandering down the bodice of my dress.
“The reception!” I exclaimed, looking back toward everyone sipping champagne.
“Is after the cocktail hour,” he reminded me, pressing the button for the elevator.
“Chester!” I said, following him into the elevator where his lips crashed into mine hungrily. His hands slid up my back and hovered over my hair, careful not to mess up the updo that had taken an hour for my hairstylist to do.
“I can’t help it,” he said, pulling away from our kiss briefly. “You’re my wife.”
My knees felt weak hearing the words tumble off his tongue and against my lips. I leaned into our kiss, trailing my tongue along his lips, as the elevator continued its ascent.
When the elevator doors opened, we practically tumbled out of the gold doors and ran down the hallway toward our suite.
Chester slid the card across the keypad, the click of the door sounding.
Before I could take a step inside, he swooped me up in his arms like I weighed nothing and carried me over the threshold.
“Romantic,” I said with a smirk.
He wiggled his brows and carried me to the bed, laying me down carefully like I might break. He stood over me, running his fingers along his jaw in thought, as he looked down at me.
“I’m going to have to be careful with this,” he mused.
“Not too careful,” I said with a sly smile.
He chuckled, a low rumble escaping his throat, as he approached the bed. He knelt into the mattress, his hands finding the hem of my dress and carefully sliding it up my legs. The white, tulle fabric bunched up around my hips as I kicked off my shoes.
“Mrs. Brandfield,” Chester exclaimed, his eyes widening. “I do believe you’ve forgotten your undergarments.”
I bit my lip and shook my head.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I hoped it would.”
It was true. I hoped he would steal me away to christen our marriage before continuing the night’s festivities. I had a pair of lace boy shorts to wear for the rest of the night. I wasn’t about to give everyone a show at the garter removal later.
Chester quickly scrambled from the bed and reached for the waistband of his pants, quickly working the clasp and zipper, until they fell to his feet.
He kicked them off along with his shoes before climbing back over me.
I pulled him in for a kiss, not bothering with undoing the buttons of his shirt or even removing his jacket.
He let out a low moan into my mouth as his hands roamed under the tulle of my dress that would take way too much work to take off.
We had to be back down at the ballroom in thirty minutes.
I reached for Chester and guided him toward me eagerly. I was met with a handful of firmness, making me let out an anticipatory sigh.
“I love you,” I whispered, our eyes meeting, our faces just inches away.
“I love you,” he replied just before slipping into me, slowly and intently, making me see stars as if the ceiling of our suite had disappeared, revealing the night sky.
Twenty minutes later, we lay intertwined in a heap of tulle and soft, black wool. Chester smiled at me as he studied my face, reaching for a strand of my hair that had fallen out of place.
“Am I a mess?” I asked worriedly.
“Not at all,” he said, shaking his head before pressing a small kiss to my nose.
“We’re married,” I said.
“I know.” He grinned.
“Is it everything you thought it would be?”
“Even better.”
I leaned in and kissed his lips before pulling myself up off the bed. I clapped my hands together.
“We have a reception to get to,” I said. “Blair is probably wondering where her parents are.”
“We have a kid,” said Chester in disbelief.
I laughed out loud. “We do.”
“She’s pretty perfect, you know,” he said, climbing off the bed and retrieving his pants.
“I know,” I agreed.
We quickly cleaned ourselves up, making sure we didn’t look like we had just had sex.
It seemed to be futile though in the way that Sadie gave me a suggestive wink when we entered the ballroom after the DJ announced us as the newlyweds.
I ignored her, even though my cheeks were on fire, and retrieved Blair from Gabriella.
She joined us for our first dance to a slow song Will played on the guitar.
It was one of the first songs we had ever danced to the night we met, and now we danced with our daughter held between us.
During dinner, Chester and I walked around and greeted guests, thanking them for coming. When I approached Sarah at the bridal party table, I could see she still seemed distant. I knelt down beside her.
“Sorry, we didn’t finish our conversation earlier…” I said.
She waved me off, taking a sip of champagne. “It’s okay, Juliet. It’s your wedding day. I don’t want to ruin it because of some guy…”
“Wedding day or not, you’re my friend. What’s going on?”
“Juliet.” She squeezed my hand. “I promise I’ll tell you later. Go enjoy your night.”
She gave me a genuine smile, her eyes sincere. I squeezed her hand back and nodded, knowing she would tell me when she was ready.
Until then, I was going to find my husband and dance the night away.
The End
Thank you so much for reading!