Epilogue
TRINA
Six Months Later
“It’ll be just us?” I raise an eyebrow as I play with the new ring on my finger, still getting used to its weight.
“Maybe my dad and brother,” Casey suggests, folding a shirt and putting it in his drawer.
“Well if your dad and brother are there, then my mom needs to be there, too.” It’s been so long since I’ve negotiated anything with him that a little thrill goes through me at the start of this small push and pull, just like it used to.
And another one comes when he eyes me over the pants he’s putting on hangers, both because I know he’s getting ready to ping something back to me and because it’s still exciting to share these domestic moments with him.
Cooking, cleaning, laundry. Every day is a joy, and even the drudgery is new and exciting.
I know that won’t last, but that’s okay. There’s a comfort in sharing a routine with someone forever, too. I’ve never had that, but I look forward to it.
We’ve broken all the rules we originally set out for ourselves, and we couldn’t be happier.
“Can your mom fly out here?”
It’s not a malicious question, but I wince all the same. “I think so. She’s talked about it, but I haven’t outright asked if her probation is over.”
“Do you want her there?”
“Not if it’s just us,” I take us back to the start, to what he suggested when he gave me the ring yesterday, asking me to marry him by telling me he didn’t want to wait to prove that he’d never leave me.
It’s a simple, gold band. He offered to get me something fancier, but I love it. I’ll never take it off.
“Do you want it to be just us?” he asks.
But he’s not the only one who can evade with questions. “Do you?”
He lifts a shoulder. “I like the idea of starting our life together with just the two of us.”
“As opposed to being surrounded by people who love us?”
“That sounds nice too.” Smiling, he lifts his gaze to the ceiling as he considers. “Maybe only family, then.”
I pick at a thread on the comforter. “Scarlett is family to me,” I say quietly. It’s not like me to show my hand this early in negotiations, but if we’re talking family, she has to be included.
“And Ryan to me. We are their baby’s godparents.”
“Definitely family,” I agree. “Isabella?”
“Imani?”
“You just want to show off your bestselling author,” I tease, but it’s true. She hit two bestseller lists with Keeper of Secrets, completely eclipsing Halo Sun’s release, and it’s still going strong two weeks later. But I tilt my head back and forth. “That feels like a stretch.”
He picks up four pairs of pants on hangers and hangs them in the closet. “She’s the reason we’re together, in a way.”
“If you’re going that route, then Anastasios too. He’s the one who sent you to Denver.”
“Suzanna sent you,” he counters.
I fall back on the bed, making gagging noises. Casey laughs and leaps onto the bed next to me, bouncing me up in the air. I giggle and roll into his waiting arms, lifting my face to his for a kiss as I cup his jaw with my palm.
Pulling away, I tick an eyebrow up. “This is going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?”
“The wedding?” he asks.
I grimace.
“You’ve avoided the word like the plague since I brought it up months ago,” he notes. “That’s why I suggested it just be us. But it can be whatever you want, baby.” He kisses my nose. “I only want you to be happy.”
“You make me happy,” I say without having to think about it. “I’ve never been happier than I am with you.”
“Then forever starts tomorrow.” He kisses me deeply. “We can celebrate with everyone else later.”
“Will you be sad that your family isn’t there when you get married?”
Casey’s brown eyes sparkle, signaling the start of another round. “Will you?”
I purse my lips against a smile, shaking my head. “I love them, but I love you more.” My grin breaks free. “Tomorrow? Really?”
“Fuck yeah,” he says, rolling to brace his weight over me and sliding his knee between my legs. “Why wait?”
“We’re on the same page about that, at least,” I say as he kisses my collarbone.
His upturned eyes flash with excitement. “Yeah?”
This is clearly what he wants but he won’t tell me outright. He’ll do anything to make me happy, but nothing matters to me as long as he’s by my side.
“Yeah.”
“You’ll marry me tomorrow?” he asks almost as if he can’t believe it.
I could negotiate more, but I find I don’t want to. All I want to do is wrap myself up in him and never leave. I want to start our forever as soon as we possibly can.
“I’ll marry you tomorrow.”
His grin is pure joy. He plants kisses on every available inch of me to the point that I devolve into a fit of laughter. Shifting to his side so I can roll into him, he holds me tight and kisses the top of my head.
“We start a new chapter tomorrow, then,” he says into my hair.
“Together.” I trace a line over his collarbone.
“Forever,” he assures me.
And as he holds me, I listen to his heartbeat, slow and steady. Our story settles. No edits, no notes. Just him and me, finally on the same page.