Epilogue
The Next Day
Aurora
Not only am I going to have to tell Darcy I’m not coming back to Chilternshire, but I’m also going to have to tell her I’m engaged.
“Hey,” I say, as she answers the video call.
“Where are you?” she asks. “That doesn’t look like your flat.”
“Yeah, I’m at Deacon’s.” I’m nervous. I really don’t know how Darcy’s going to react.
Not because she’s selfish, but because my life has always revolved around hers.
It’s the way it’s always been and she’s used to it, but that’s changed now.
Deacon’s upstairs finishing up some things for work after putting Willow to bed.
It’s late, but I had to tell my best friend my news.
“You two made up? How come you didn’t tell me?”
“It just happened yesterday. There’s a lot I need to get you caught up on.”
She sighs. “I can’t wait until you’re home. I feel like I’m missing out on everything.”
That’s kind of how I’ve lived my life up until now. I’ve been the woman who’s missed out on everything.
But that’s all changed since coming to New York. Since Deacon.
Manhattan’s changed everything.
“Deacon and I resolved things in…in a big way.” Will she think I’m crazy when I tell her that Deacon and I are engaged? I don’t feel crazy, and it’s not going to change my mind if she does, but I’d really like her support. She’s family to me.
“Okay,” she says, narrowing her eyes. “I feel like there’s more.”
“I love him, Darcy.”
She presses her lips together, but doesn’t say anything.
“And he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” My eyes start to water, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m so happy that I’m finally about to live my happily ever after, or whether it’s because I’m going to miss Darcy. A little bit of both, maybe.
“Oh my god,” Darcy says, her eyes glassy. “I’m so…” She shakes her head, and I brace myself for her disappointment. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so happy for you!”
My tears spill over—it’s partly relief at her words and partly because I’m still in shock that I’ve finally found the love of my life. “You are?” I ask, dabbing my eyes with the sleeve of my jumper.
“Of course I am.” She’s in bed, and she shifts around. “I mean…it’s bittersweet. But, oh god, I wish I was there to give you a hug.”
“I know. Me too.” But I can feel her love from here. It’s not that I expected her to be angry, but I was worried that she’d be a little disappointed.
“But it’s fine. Hang on a minute,” she says to me. “Logan, can you give me your phone? I need to call Ryder. Or can you call Ryder for me?”
I hear Logan’s muffled voice.
“Aurora got engaged,” Darcy says. “I need to speak to Ryder.”
“Why do you need to speak to Ryder?” I ask. I was planning to send engagement announcements. She doesn’t need to tell him this minute.
Logan’s face appears on the screen, and Aurora disappears, but I can hear her talking in the background. “Congratulations, Aurora,” Logan says. “Is he a good guy?”
I nod. “He is. He really is.” The best guy.
“Good. Because you deserve a really good guy.”
Warmth blooms in my chest. “Thanks, Logan.”
There’s a kerfuffle on the screen and the phone gets dropped and then Darcy reappears. “Okay, so we’re all coming over at the weekend. The kids are still off school, so they can come too.”
“You’re coming over?” I ask. “Over where?”
“To New York, of course! Ryder’s over here this week, so we’re all going to come back together on his plane. I want to properly meet this guy who’s going to be my brother-in-law. And anyway, we’re going to have to get used to the journey. Are you free?”
My entire body fills with love and gratitude and relief. I haven’t lost her.
I nod. “It would be good to see you.”
“You’ve been my best friend my entire life. I’m not going to let the Atlantic Ocean get between us. You’ll be my best friend for the rest of my life too.”
“We’ll just find a new rhythm,” I say.
Darcy nods, and I know she’s only not talking because she doesn’t want to show me she’s trying not to cry.
“I really am so happy for you,” she finally says. “I’m just…happy tears.”
“I know,” I say. “I’m really happy for me too. But I’m still going to miss you.”
She shakes her head. “Nope. I’m not going to give you a chance to miss me. You’re going to be sick of me before long.”
“Never,” I say.
She grins, and we both try to blink away our tears.
“What did your parents say?” she asks. “Have they met him?”
“Not yet. I haven’t spoken to them. They’re my next call.
” My parents will worry, but they’ll be happy for me.
They’ve always supported me, but it will be an adjustment not living five minutes away from them.
This next chapter will be in New York, but the thing Manhattan has taught me is that you never know what’s around the corner.
As long as I’m with Deacon, the rest will fall into place.
“Oh my god,” she blurts out of nowhere. “Is that the ring?”
It’s amazing how quickly I’ve become used to the huge diamond on my left ring finger. It’s like it’s always been there. “You like it?” I ask, holding it up to the screen.
“Crap, is that five carats?”
“How did you even know that?” I ask. It’s an emerald, brilliant-cut solitaire on a platinum band and it manages to feel simple at the same time as being sparkly and perfect. Deacon chose it. He said I could swap it, but why would I? It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.
“Oh god, this guy’s the one,” Darcy says.
I laugh. “Yeah, he’s very definitely the one.” But not because of the ring or his excellent taste; because of his heart and soul. Because of who he is, and who he’s striving to be. He’s my happily ever after.
Three Weeks Later
Aurora
From the very beginning, it felt like Deacon knew me to my bones. But over the last few weeks, since our engagement, we’ve swapped stories, shared meals, and started living together on the days when Willow is with Gabby. We’ve started building a life together.
“I think we should have Gabby and Ray over to dinner,” Deacon announces as he comes into the living room, carrying two glasses of wine.
“You do?” Deacon has never been the biggest Ray fan. But lots of things are changing around here.
He takes a seat next to me on the sofa, sitting so close there’s no gap between us.
“Well, you need to meet Gabby properly.” Deacon has already told her we’re engaged, and I’ve briefly met Gabby.
But we’re not in a rush to get married. There’s a lot happening in Willow’s life, and we’re not in a race.
“And I thought it would be nice for Willow if she had all of us together in one place.”
“I think it sounds like a lovely idea.”
“Good. I’ll arrange it.” He sighs. “And we need to change this couch. It’s horrendous. I’ve never liked it. Willow and I have already talked about getting the bedrooms redecorated. We should do the entire house.”
I shake my head, grinning. “The house is fantastic.”
“I want it to feel like your home,” he says. “I don’t want to move.”
I glance up and around as excitement bubbles in my stomach at the thought of living here with Deacon and Willow. So much has changed in such a short space of time.
“It should feel like ours. I know you’re going to be moving in, but if we redecorate everything together, hopefully… You’ve told me how you’ve always felt on the periphery to Darcy’s life. I don’t want you to feel like that about our life together.”
I set my wine down on the coffee table, reach out, and cup his jaw. “You make me feel like the center of your world.”
“Rightly so,” he says, circling his arms around me and pulling me onto his lap. “But I think it would be nice to redecorate this place together.”
“Yeah, I guess it would. Although, I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“We’ll have a designer help us.”
I shrug. “Okay, but I think we should involve Willow.”
He grins at me in that way that makes my knees weak and my heart stutter.
“After dinner with Gabby and Ray, we can talk to Willow about us getting married and you moving in.”
“Okay. But I don’t want to upset her. You’ve gone from not wanting her to have any change to changing everything.”
He shakes his head. “No, not everything. I still love her, Gabby still loves her. The fundamentals are all there. And anyway, she loves you, and you two are spending more time together. She asks me all the time whether we’re going to get married.”
“She does?”
“All the time.”
“Okay, but we have time.” One new thing I’ve learned about Deacon is how impatient he is when he decides he wants something.
“We also need to have the conversation about children.”
Dread creeps up my spine. I’m so happy. Everything is so perfect. I hate to ruin everything by talking about my fertility issues.
“Do we?” I ask. I have so much with Deacon and Willow in my life, it feels selfish to think that there might be anything more for me. I know I’ll be happy until the end of time with the life Deacon and I will have with Willow.
“You’ve admitted to me that all you dreamt about as a child was being a wife and mother.”
“Things change,” I say, a little defensive.
“Right,” he says. “Have you changed your mind about having children?”
“I told you, the doctors have said it’s almost impossible.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“You know my answer,” I say. “But I don’t want to… I’m happy becoming a stepmother to Willow.”
“I’ve been doing some research,” he says. “First thing is, I would encourage you to see a specialist over here to get a second opinion.”
My heart sinks into the sofa at the idea of going through all the tests again to get the same answer. “And what happens if the second opinion is the same as the first?”
“Then we have options. Obviously there’s things like IVF, but adoption is a real option. And so is egg donation. We could even use a surrogate with an egg donor, if you’re unable to carry children.”