Epilogue
Emma doesn’t want to have a traditional wedding march. She says something about it being a ridiculous song, and I just go along with it because I love her more than anything.
So when I stand at the front of the same church my parents were married in thirty years before, to the day, and Maroon Five starts blasting through the speakers, all I can do is laugh. Laugh and watch as the love of my life has the wedding of her dreams.
First, every single one of my groomsmen dance out with a bridesmaid on his arm. Emma picked some sort of red dress for the women to wear, and she told me what the color is called, but damn if I can remember while my heart is thudding painfully in my chest and I’m waiting for her to show up at the end of the aisle. The men are easy, since we all have dress blues sitting in the back of our closets.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Five groomsmen and five bridesmaids take a hell of a long time to make their way down the rows, dancing and having fun. The entire time, I’m starting to sweat in the wool of my dress uniform, and I want to unbutton the damn thing.
But I don’t.
This is too important to Emma.
Once they are finally done, my heart skitters. Not because I see Emma, but because Nox and Bee make their entrance.
Together.
Like they’re miniature versions of me and Emma.
Nox insisted on wearing a suit with a red bow tie to match Bee’s dress. Bee wears a tiny replica of the bridesmaid dresses, and the two of them steal the show. At least for now.
Bee, who has had a long and painful road to her full recovery, pushed herself every single day to make sure that she could be in our wedding, and Nox helped her.
None of us told her that we’d move the wedding to whenever we had to in order for her to be in it. But we would.
When Bee finishes throwing her flowers, Nox takes her by the hand and she rests her head on his shoulder, and every single heart in the crowd must break at the same time.
Everyone coos, and for a second I forget what we’re even here for. Until a shimmer catches my eye.
I look up, and there she is.
Emma Hayes.
Soon to be Emma Ortiz.
The woman of my dreams.
In a white dress that turns red at the bottom, with her father on her arm. When her eyes seek mine, I see my future.
I see all the dreams I have and all the ones that she’s shared with me. All of them together, coming true.
“I love you,” she mouths across the room.
It takes Linc putting his hand on my arm to keep me from marching down the aisle to pick her up and get it over with already. We all know I like the idea of throwing her over my shoulder.
“You’ve waited this long,” he mutters. “You can wait a few more seconds.”
“Only for Emma.”
When her father places her hand in mine, everything feels right.
“You ready for this?” She winks at me, like she hadn’t been the one to ask me to elope the night before. “We can make a break for it.”
“We’re here,” I tell her. “You’re not getting away from me now.”
I slip my ring onto her finger ten minutes later, and she’s mine.
Finally.
* * *