Epilogue
LIBBY
My family knows the truth about how we ended up together, and everyone agrees it might have been the only way he would have ever won me over: by working backwards.
They might be right.
The start of our season has been even more of a success than I could have hoped. Undefeated so far. Mr. Stevens has already called to praise me about it.
Our show debuted a couple weeks ago, and Jordan is the unequivocal star of Being Libby Bennet, which is a bit ironic, considering the name.
The fans adore him. The story of us running off to elope to Hawaii without telling our families and keeping our romance a secret for six months has already inspired three best-selling romance novels, and there are talks of a Netflix movie.
Jordan is gunning for a certain Hemsworth to play him.
He still makes me dinner every night he can.
We still sometimes have to delay it for … other things.
One night, as we snuggle together on the couch and watch old episodes of Friends, he says, “You know, there are some things we never really talked about before we got married because of why we were getting married.”
I lift my head from his chest to look up at him. “Like?”
“Who’s going to be in charge of the finances?” he offers, a twinkle in his eyes.
I raise my eyebrows. “Are you concerned about our finances?” I ask innocently.
“You did just buy a hockey team,” he points out.
“I am saving a little money now that you’re an assistant coach and my husband and not my private consultant.
” I shrug. He’s still my private consultant, if we’re being honest. I run everything by him, but he insisted, now that our marriage is real, that I can’t pay him.
He says it’s weird. So the White Wolves pay him instead.
“True,” he agrees.
“Anything else?” I’d be a dummy if I didn’t suspect where this is going.
“Our roles and responsibilities.”
I point to him. “You make me dinner.” I point to myself. “I eat the dinner.”
“Okay, that’s settled.” He leans over to give me a light peck on the lips, surprising me by pulling away, even when I lean in to continue the kiss.
“There’s more?” I guess in faux shock.
“Babies,” he says, very seriously. Then he takes a deep breath.
“I love you, Libby. And I am ready to follow you wherever you want to take us. If anything—your past, your career, whatever—makes you feel like children aren’t the right path for you, now or ever, I will support that. I just want you to know.”
I put a hand on his chest over his heart. His heart is my favorite. It’s the kindest, most generous heart in the world, and it belongs to me. When I first met Jordan, I thought his flirting made him like Grayson, but Jordan’s charm is because he just really likes most people he meets.
“I know,” I say simply. I want him to understand that I see what he’s willing to sacrifice and what it means to me.
Now he pulls me close to kiss me, slowly and tenderly. We lean into each other in a dance that is so well known to us, even after such a short time.
But before we get lost in each other, I pull away to look at him. “I want the babies, Jordan.” It is one of the things I was finally able to picture clearly when I started to fall for him—a family.
His face lights up. He pulls me into his lap. “Can we talk about when? I understand if we should wait. We haven’t been together long. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“We can talk about it, but it’s kind of a moot point.”
Jordan freezes. “But we…”
My smile spreads slowly. “Not that first time.”
“Libby.” He holds me by the shoulders, and I can’t keep in my joyous laugh. I had this whole Instagram-worthy announcement for him. There’s a T-shirt in my bottom drawer that says “Number One Draft Pick—Baby Bennet,” since Jordan is still very insistent that he’s keeping my name.
But this is so much better, this private, sweet moment between us. We will likely have to recreate something for the show, and Jordan’s fans will go insane. This is just for us, and the utter surprise on his expression as I sit this close to him is one of the best moments of my life.
When tears well in his eyes, I swallow back emotion of my own. I press my forehead to his. “You are going to be a dad,” I say in a soft voice.
He doesn’t speak, just pulls me to him, burying his face in my shoulder. We don’t talk for several minutes.
“This is amazing,” he finally says.
“Better than my dreams,” I agree.
Jordan kisses me again, sweet and light. Then we hold each other for a long time, Friends playing in the background and both of us reveling in this moment.
He insists on making a celebratory cake.
While he bakes, we make plans for telling our families.
We call his parents while the cake is in the oven.
I might still be trying to make up to my mother-in-law that I eloped with her son to Hawaii.
Even though we’ve had a second ceremony to include our families, and she has never been anything but loving to me, I worry.
We call my parents next, and I think my mom might finally believe I really do love him.
We call Janelle and Charlie, and it’s fun to do the math and figure out how closely they’ll be born.
Janelle makes a plan to come to Denver, and we tell Ellie, in person and together, about our pregnancies.
Ellie immediately demands it’s only fair if Janelle gives the baby to her.
She has five kids already! But only joking, of course.
It’s her way of saying Janelle shouldn’t have to worry about having a dozen kids or more.
She’s more than happy for us. She would never want us to feel guilty for these miracles.
But we can’t change that it will always be a complicated announcement for her to hear.
And then, a few weeks later, Ellie and Janelle drop a bombshell on everyone: after Janelle has baby number six, she’s going to be a surrogate for Ellie.
We still have not convinced Janelle to pack up her brood and move to Denver, but since the Bennet family owns a private jet, there will be no shortage of family time despite the Bennets being split between Houston and Denver.
We’ll get them sooner or later.
When I married Jordan Atkinson Bennet on a beach in Maui, I thought the thing I wanted most was to prove to the world I was strong, powerful, and successful, no longer the seventeen-year-old girl whose world was turned upside down on national television.
I love owning the hockey team. It’s a stretch of my talents I enjoy every day. The show is fun too, easier and different than when I was a teenager.
But what I want most is Jordan and to live our happily ever after every day until we’re old.
That’s exactly what Libby Bennet is going to do.
Thank you so much for reading Libby + Jordan’s story.