Epilogue
TEN MONTHS LATER
“Lark and Dante, take a minute to look at all the people who are here today to offer their love and support to you,” the minister said.
Dante squeezed her hands, and they did look, and yes, all that love, all that hope, that joy, echoed back at them.
The little church by the sea was packed. Addison was maid of honor, of course. Lorenzo was best man. The two brothers had come a long way. Imogen and Esme and Luna Byrne, now Lark’s niece, thanks to Grady and Harlow having gotten married, looked adorable in their pastel flower girl dresses. Mom and Dad sat in the front row, holding hands, next to Silvio and Anita, wiping away happy tears.
Two sets of parents, seven siblings, their spouses and partners, three nieces and two nephews—Matthew, up from Georgetown, and William, Sofia and Henry’s three-week-old son. Anita’s parents, and Grandpop and Frances. Joy, of course, with a corsage to mark her special role in Lark’s life. Mom’s parents, and Aunt Grace, minus Uncle Larry—they were getting a divorce (no real surprise there). Dante’s aunts and uncles and a dozen or so cousins.
Noni wasn’t here. At Sofia and Henry’s wedding, Lark and Dante hadn’t wanted to overshadow the happy couple. Interestingly, only Noni (and Lorenzo, of course) seemed to notice their new arrangement. Noni had said only, “Eh. I never like you for my Lorenzo. He can do better. You, kid”—she looked at Dante with her good eye—“you can have her.”
“We’ll call that her blessing,” Dante whispered, squeezing her hand under the table as Lark tried not to laugh. The rest of the wedding had been utterly beautiful…and Lorenzo didn’t once mention paying for it.
Ten days later, Noni passed away in her sleep.
Heather and Theo Dean sat in the middle of the wedding guests, beaming at Lark, and she let her eyes rest on them for a few seconds. They would always love her like the daughter they never had, and that was a gift.
Now Dante, standing in front of her at the altar, their hands joined, would become what Justin never did—her husband. Lark looked back at Dante, saw the smile on his face and the love in his eyes, and felt her heart swell with pure and simple joy.
The minister smiled and continued. In sickness and in health. In good times and in bad. Until death do you part.
Those words no longer filled Lark with a sense of foreboding. Life was unpredictable, and yes, her almost husband was a firefighter. Something awful might happen to him. She knew the risks. She saw them every day at work.
The key, she had learned, was to live in the here and now. Not the back then or the what-if, but right now. Not to worry about the shadows or the times of sorrow and darkness. They would come, of course. No one was immune. The trick was to carry hope and determination like a torch into the dark times. The way Justin had in his last few months. The way she would now.
The trick, Lark now knew, was to look on the bright side.