Epilogue
MAGNOLIA
“The trees are up, the tables are ready, the staff is working so you don’t have to, and I left the mimosa-making to you because—in the interest of full disclosure—I’m really nervous I’ll make them too strong because frankly I am scared Momma is going to kill us today.”
I rolled my eyes, flicking on my mascara and fluffing out my now shoulder-length, natural curls. “How do I look?”
Lee crossed the room and wrapped his arms around my waist, dipping his forehead down to meet mine. “Like a goddess, as usual. How could you ever doubt yourself? You’re still the most beautiful girl in the world, Maggie. You always will be.”
I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away playfully. “Get changed, please. Everyone will be here shortly. And you’re not mucking up our first Christmas brunch at the inn by wearing sweats and drooling over me.”
“Fair enough,” he laughed, kissing my cheek quickly.
After all these years, and everything we’d been through, every sweet touch still set fire to my blood and made my soul sing out.
All the heartbreak, the tears, and the ongoing legal drama with his brother had done nothing but solidify us closer together.
Today would be the day the last piece snapped neatly into our wild-ass puzzle.
I sat on the edge of the bed and reached quietly underneath, pulling out a box. After knowing each other most of our lives, it was hard to surprise Lee, but I think I knocked it out of the park with this one.
I placed a hand over the small, wrapped gift, marveling at the glistening ring on my left hand. Lee had proposed to me a few weeks after our “last first date” at the Mercer house, and I still looked down in shock every now and again at how gorgeous, and modest, the ring was.
Apparently, he’d worked with a jeweler at Levy’s to create the low sitting, quadruple diamond band, coming in at over two karats.
He said every diamond was a phase in our lives.
The beginning when we were kids, the middle when we fell in love, a stone for the time we were apart but our hearts still called to each other, and the last stone for our future and what was to come.
And something major was coming today.
When we were ready, we made our way down the long, wide staircase from our two-floor home above the Inn and Pub, holding hands and giggling as we made our way to our friends.
Everyone we loved gathered around the table. Eunice and Vance, Charlie and Tally, Sutton and Ryan, Jordan and Doyle, and the last two seats were left for us.
When we walked into the sprawling dining room, everyone stood, and we passed out kisses and hugs to our guests. When I reached Doyle, he leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Will you let me know? I don’t want to be caught off guard,” he said, and I nodded quickly.
“The trees look beautiful,” I said to Lee, as we took our seats at the head of the table.
“All real, by the way. Only the best for my girl.” He put my hand in his and brought it to his mouth, kissing the top and rubbing his thumb across my ring, smiling widely, knowing.
Sutton and I had worked tirelessly putting together the menu for our Christmas Eve brunch. Charlie shoveled some French-toast bake onto his plate and passed the dish to me. “Do you still want me to come by tonight? We have a sitter right now, but Tally could stay home with Libby if you needed me.”
I put my arm around my brother’s shoulders, my eyes filling with tears. “No, Charlie, I’ll be fine. It’s probably time we started making new traditions anyway. I love you for asking, though. I love you for everything.”
“I love you, too, baby sister. Though, you have been crying a lot. Is everything okay?”
I nodded, using my napkin to dab at my eyes. “Everything’s fine. Perfect even. It’s just Christmas, you know? Lots of emotions this time of year. I wish Momma, Daddy, Uncle Cole… I just wish they were here.”
“Me too,” he said, passing the next platter my way, full of Sutton’s famous biscuits and gravy. Southern Living had just done a huge write up about our business, and the dish was at the top of their list of things to try when guests checked in.
The bookings had been pouring in ever since.
“Baby, you forgot the mimosas,” Lee said brightly, leaning in, and I glanced around the table to make sure everyone had finished their meals.
“Doyle, could you help Lee and me with the drinks, please? Can’t believe I forgot the mimosas, silly me,” I cackled, shooting crazy eyes at him from my end of the long table.
He hopped up, kissed Jordan on the cheek, and the three of us scurried into the kitchen. I busted into the mudroom off the veranda and slammed the door behind me.
“Stop making so much damned noise, Maggie. They’re going to think we’ve gotten into it again!” Lee whispered, knocking into the coat rack and toppling it over.
“Shut up, Lee! Doyle, please help me,” I cried, jumping up and down, trying to get my zipper up.
“Holy shit on a shingle, girl! This dress is fire,” Doyle said, zipping me up.
When I found the dress at the bridal shop, I just knew it was the one.
Slipping into it, I couldn’t help but fall in love with how it seemed to glow with this soft, almost magical light.
The ivory fabric shimmered with a kind of quiet elegance, and the short sleeves draped over my shoulders like they were made just for me.
Beneath the delicate lace overlay, the silk lining felt so smooth and luxurious against my skin that I never wanted to take it off.
The dress hugged my body in all the right places—especially all of Lee’s favorite places—showing off my chest in a way that felt natural but so flattering.
As I moved, the slight train at the back trailed behind me with just the right amount of drama.
The tiny, glistening beads woven into the lace caught the light perfectly, and I felt like I was wrapped in a soft whisper of romance.
Honestly, I’d never felt more beautiful in my entire life.
And I couldn’t wait until Lee saw me walking toward him in this dress.
After assessing the dress situation, I quickly pinned my curls up, letting some tendrils fall around my face, and reached under the sink for the rest of the things I needed.
I handed two small boxes to Doyle, dabbed on some makeup, and turned to my friend, trying not to cry. “How do I look?”
Doyle put his hands on my shoulders and eyed me up and down. “Like a woman who is confident, kind, and gorgeous. Like someone who deserves this day more than anything.”
“Nice words, but I still feel like I’m going to puke. Okay, get him out of here. Don’t forget the drinks. Or the music. Love you, bye!”
I shooed him out of the room and took another long look at myself.
This was the moment that I’d longed for, waited for, for almost twenty years.
It wasn’t the day that I’d envisioned, and it wasn’t perfectly planned, and it wasn’t how it, in theory, was supposed to go.
But there I was, standing in that dress, and it felt right in a way that nothing else ever had.
And, like I’d told my brother, it was time for new traditions.
I made my way through the kitchen, hearing the soft music pumping through the dining room. I lifted my dress and took a long inhale, jumping back as the kitchen door flew open.
“I knew it,” my brother hissed, scanning me up and down. “You’ve been acting like a loon, more than usual, for days. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s a surprise,” I said, holding my hand to my chest, trying to keep my heart from leaping out and splatting against the wall. “Do you think everyone knows?”
“No, they don’t have a clue. Sutton’s complaining because she’s thirsty and was promised mimosas, though, and Lee and Doyle are just standing by the tree whispering. You probably have a good three minutes before there’s a mutiny. Think that’s enough time for a grand entrance?”
“I was just gonna kinda kick in the door there and pray for the best. What are you thinking?”
“We rush up the back staircase, and you let me walk you down the stairs, and down the aisle, to your groom. It would be my honor, Magnolia.”
My brother rushed toward me and wrapped his arms around me. We both shook as we tried to stifle down the sobs inside of us. While planning the wedding, which took all of ten minutes in between early-morning romps in the sheets, I never thought about asking my brother to escort me down the aisle.
We stood at the top of the stairs, lined with portraits of our family, some we didn’t even know. Next to us was a framed picture of Charlie and me with our momma and daddy, and we stood for a minute to look at it before starting down the winding staircase.
“You look beautiful,” my brother said quietly. “They’d be really proud of you, you know? Uncle Cole, too. He’d be through the roof at what you’ve done here.”
We reached the bottom of the steps and into full view of the table of our loved ones, and heads spun to look at us, catching the movement out of the corner of their eyes. Everyone gasped in unison, and Eunice stood up, covering her mouth and, what I’d assumed and hoped, were tears of joy.
“Please stand for the bride,” Doyle yelled, improvising, his head darting around in confusion since I was supposed to appear from the kitchen door behind him.
As we passed the table of our family and friends, I noticed there wasn’t a dry eye. When I reached Lee, I met Vance’s eyes from across the room, and he nodded his head toward me, and for the first time in a long time, I saw the Wilder patriarch smile.
I joined Lee by the Christmas tree, and he shook my brother’s hand before wrapping him in a hug, both of them whacking each other on the back.
“I don’t think I need to tell you to take care of her,” Charlie said quietly. “But the offer to kick your ass if I see fit still stands, brother.”
“I’d never let either of you down, Charlie. Not a chance. Though, I would like to see you try and handle a fight,” Lee retorted, and they both laughed.
Lee turned to me and smiled, bending down to whisper in my ear. “I thought you’d run away on me. I was getting a little nervous.”
“I’m your girl, Leland Wilder, and I intend on making that official today.”
Once we said, “I do,” and Doyle rushed out to his car to pick up the cake, which Sutton heavily criticized, we danced the day away with our family and friends.
After dessert, when everyone had gone their separate ways to celebrate Christmas Eve, Lee and I, as husband and wife, made our way upstairs to our home.
When I opened the door to our living quarters, Pickle flew out from inside the tree and crawled up Lee’s entire body like a howler monkey, resting on his shoulders.
“Do you think she knows I’m her step-dad now?”
“No, I think she’s got some weird, decades-long, deranged love for you. I can commiserate.” I took a deep breath, the dress tightening around me as I exhaled. “Hey, help me out of this dress. It’s getting a little claustrophobic.”
When our friends and family had gathered at the Wilders’ for Thanksgiving, Lee and I decided that day, on the walk home, that we’d surprise them with a wedding.
I ran out the following Monday to secure a dress, I just didn’t think that I’d be so swollen when I finally got around to wearing the damn thing.
“I have a present for you,” Lee said once we were in our pajamas, munching on cookies, and watching Meet Me In St. Louis with Pickle purring away between us.
“I thought we agreed on no presents, just the rings,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
“It’s nothing big. Well, it’s kind of big,” he said, jumping up and darting across the room. He plucked a gift from under the tree and handed the small, wrapped present to me. “Open it up,” he said, jerking his chin toward it.
“It better not be a bar,” I laughed, as I unwrapped the package. Inside was a blank CD case with no writing, no cover. Confused, I asked, “What is this?”
He coughed nervously and took the case from me, popping the disk into the CD player we only kept around for him to listen to his demos on. He pressed play and sat back next to me, on the opposite side now that Pickle had stretched out and taken up the entirety of one side of the couch.
The song was slow and obviously professionally recorded with the entire band.
The bass, guitar, and piano notes floated through our place, coming from the speakers Lee had set up all over the house.
After a few bars, his voice came over the speakers, clear and steady as he sang a song about a love he’s had his whole life and how the happiest moment of his life was when he heard her say, “I do.”
As the song went on, he sang about the storms they’d weathered through, but how they were each other’s anchor no matter what.
How he’d hoped that he was the kind of man that would make her daddy proud, how he couldn’t wait to see their children, and how he hoped they looked just like her.
How her momma was watching over them with love, and how he hoped that they’d have a love eternal, just like her parents.
I hugged my knees to my chest and let the tears fall, the music wrapping around me like a comforting embrace. It was during the last chorus that it finally clicked.
“What’s the name of the song, Lee?”
“It’s just a working title, but Ryan and I are thinking of calling it ‘Our Song.’”
I laughed through the tears. “You finally wrote our song.”
“I didn’t write it, we did. All these years.
Though, to be fair, most of my songs are about you.
” He leaned in, kissed the top of my head, and then gently lifted my chin so our eyes met.
He kissed away my tears, then sat back with a smile.
“I couldn’t help but notice there’s a gift under the tree from you to me, Mrs. Wilder. ”
I nodded, using the sleeve of my sweatshirt to mop up my face, which was soaked with emotion. “You can open it, if you want. My gift is a little better than yours, though, so don’t get jealous.”
He scoffed as he reached under the tree. “I write you songs, Magnolia. What could be better than that?” He unwrapped the present and flipped open the top off the box, staring at the gift inside for a few moments before looking at me in complete shock.
“You might write me songs, Leland Wilder, but I’m baking you a baby.”
THE END