Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
“Stop pacing, son, everything is taken care of,” my dad says, his mustache turning up into a grin.
“You have the rings?” I ask. “I just want everything to be perfect. They deserve perfect.”
My dad reaches into his pocket and pulls out the rings that Violette and I are about to put on to pledge our love to each other for eternity.
“Well, the bride’s still here so I guess that’s a win-win for you,” Opp says with a wide smile, peaking around the corner of the covered porch where I’m standing with most of my squad.
We’re at a resort in the valley at the base of the mountains where Jacob fell into that ash pit six and a half years ago, because this is where Vi feels close to him. I look around the corner of the cabin we got ready in and take in the scene. A hundred chairs face a natural wood altar, adorned with greenery and fall flowers, and the aisle is lined with white lanterns and rose petals. The valley itself is the showstopper. It’s a wide open space surrounded by trees and the leaves are like flames that meet the sky with the fall colors. The sun is high, and the air is just crisp enough that it will be warm when we say our vows in front of everyone we love, a rarity for Washington in October.
Sup makes his way around the space and passes out a can of Jacob’s favorite beer to each of us.
“A toast,” Sup says, holding his can high. We all raise ours, and I smirk. I know he hates Corona, but he really loves us all and this is one of the ways he shows it.
“To King, for having the balls to make things right.”
“And never letting up until Vi gave in,” Cal chimes in, to which everyone chuckles.
“To health, to Rowan and Violette, to Jacob. I believe he’s here with us today, even only if in spirit and he’d want us to give you this,” Sup says with a smirk.
I look around at all of them for a split second before every one of them is closing in to manhandle me into a fucking bear hug. Patting me on the head, the shoulders, the back, laughing.
“Bunch of sappy fuckers.” I laugh, fixing my hair after then backing away.
“Most importantly, to family,” Sup adds.
“To family,” everyone repeats as we take a swig.
“What the hell are you guys doing in here, making out?” my mother says, coming around the corner. She looks at me with a smile. “It’s time, honey.”
She gives me a squeeze and I hug her back. “Did I fix things to your liking, Ma?” I ask her.
Before she lets me go, she whispers, “You fixed it real good, baby. Now hold onto it and protect it with everything you’ve got.”
I look out at the crowd filling the seats, and see the smallest glimpse of Hollie, the world’s biggest and cutest smile on her face, the sun glinting off the little gold bracelet I gave her last night at our rehearsal dinner to show her she’ll always be my daughter in my heart. She’s at the end of the aisle, holding Teddy’s hand and her flowers, ready to walk down the aisle. She’s practiced that walk to me ten times where she’ll stand with her mother and me, but the fact that in just a few minutes I’m going to see it happen for real warms me in a way I just can’t explain.
My mother doesn’t need to worry. Loving and protecting my little family is exactly what I intend to do, and I’ll do it with everything I’ve got.
Forever.
“If you were here, you’d be telling me to pull some kind of prank on Rowan at the altar, I know you would,” I say, staring down at the picture of me and Jacob on my phone. “It might give Mom a coronary after all her hard work, though.” I giggle.
I look out of my cabin near the end of the aisle we created. The aisle I’ll walk down in just seven short minutes to Hollie and Rowan. The chairs are full of people we love, and Hollie is so excited to make Rowan her Daddy in her heart.
“You talking to yourself, Vivi?” my dad asks, rounding the corner in his tux, looking very dapper, yet older than he ever has.
“Talking to Jacob,” I tell him with a smile.
“What’s he saying?”
“I think he’s saying I’m in the right place with the right person,” I tell my dad, tears brimming in my eyes.
“He’s always with us, honey, you know your mother thinks he brought you home to us.”
I smile up at my dad as I pick up the handtied blooms Teddy and I put together in mine and Rowan’s living room just two days ago.
“Maybe, but whatever brought me home again, I’m glad,” I tell him as he takes my arm into his and we make our way out into the fall sunshine around the back of the cabin.
Along the side is my mother, Scottie who’s become such a good friend, and Teddy with Hollie at the front. Hollie looks back at me as the music starts and waves, I wave back and wait with anticipation.
Every moment of the last year is running through my mind. The struggles I’ve overcome in therapy, learning how to deal with my grief over Jacob’s death, learning how to let go and have faith that Rowan will come home to me at the end of every roll. The way I’ve dealt with my fears and worries today instead of tomorrow, and showing Hollie how to be positive when Rowan goes to work so she doesn’t live with the same anxiety that weighed on me as she grows.
And as the guitarist at the end of the aisle begins to play our wedding song, I remember everything else. The first day we spent alone, the first moment he kissed me, and all the smiles, tears, and moments of passion in between.
My dad reaches up and pats my hand folded into his arm as we begin our walk together. I smile as I take in my family, Rowan’s family, his crew, and our friends from over the years. With every step my nerves settle and when my eyes meet Rowan’s and Hollie’s at the end of the aisle, I can’t move fast enough toward them.
Rowan’s eyes glisten with tears when he sees me and the smile I love so much breaks out across his face. Peace spreads through me like a wildfire through the trees. Looks like I wasn’t meant to date a hotshot, after all.
I was meant to marry one.
The End