Epilogue
Lorenz
His shoulder throbbed steadily, and every deep breath pulled painfully at his ribs.
That morning, Beau had threatened to physically drag him back to the hospital if he didn’t take his pain medication. It’d taken a while to make Beau understand that Lorenz wasn’t about to take anything that made him woozy. He wanted to remember every instant of today.
“You look terrible,” Ry had cheerfully informed him five minutes earlier.
Lorenz hadn’t argued. He probably did.
But it didn’t matter, because he and Charlie were getting married today.
The official reason for the rush was Terry, who had to fly back to the US the following day, and didn’t want to miss her little sister’s wedding. The unofficial reason? Lorenz didn’t want to wait a single moment to make Charlie his wife.
The small church was warm. Spring was finally in full swing, and the sunlight filtering through the stained glass made the floor glow.
Lorenz looked around the church. Every seat on every pew was occupied by someone he trusted with his life.
His team.
His family.
The colonel sat on the front row with his daughter, Lena, and Tristan. Behind them sat Hugo, who gave Lorenz a discrete thumbs up. His wife, Jo, sat next to him with baby Rébé in her arms.
Beau, Val, and Ren were right behind them. Lorenz knew Ren had been roped into organizing things for the younger children during the brunch they’d be having afterwards.
His eyes moved further back. Everybody was there.
Alex, Yvette, Damien, Tess, Jamie, Drake, Isolde, Jens, Sarah, Kat, Luc, Hiro and Trista …
even Bastien and Océane had come over from Megève.
He knew some of his friends would miss the brunch, as they had to go back on duty, but none of them had wanted to miss the ceremony.
Lorenz struggled to put a word to what he was feeling.
Humbled.
He couldn’t have imagined a better group of people to call his friends and family.
The church doors opened softly at the back, and all conversation immediately stopped.
Lorenz looked up … and forgot to breathe.
Charlie stood beside Terry, both of them framed in sunlight. She wore a pale ivory dress to her ankles, which moved softly around her legs as she started walking. But it was her face that he couldn’t stop staring at. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.
His eyes found hers, searching, and found no hesitation, no nervousness.
Just certainty. As she started walking down the aisle, she looked utterly certain.
The show of trust floored him.
A memory hit him, then, of the last time they’d done this. It hadn’t been in a church, that time. They’d gotten married on a boat in one of the Amsterdam canals. Charlie had looked beautiful that day as well, in a fuller, puffier wedding dress.
And they’d loved each other back then, as well. God, they had. But they’d both been younger. And when things had gotten tough, he’d mistaken silence for strength, and she’d mistaken his silence for a lack of love.
This time, he knew what he was committing to.
Terry’s gaze met his as she stepped aside near the front pew. There was happiness in her gaze, but also a warning, which he heard loud and clear.
Don’t fuck this up.
He dipped his chin in acknowledgment. He was going to take care of Charlie until his dying day.
He became dimly aware of the priest, who had started talking, but it was hard to pay attention to anything other than Charlie.
“You’re staring,” she whispered softly.
“You’re beautiful.”
Her cheeks went pink, as if she hadn’t expected the compliment.
“You don’t think it’s too much?” she asked, pointing to her dress. “For a second wedding?”
“It’s perfect for a last wedding,” Lorenz replied, taking her hand in his, even though he wasn’t sure he was meant to at this point in the proceedings. He knew he had to wait until the end to kiss her, and that moment couldn’t come soon enough.
Charlie
Married.
Again.
She liked what Lorenz had said, about this being their last wedding. She felt the same. They would treasure this marriage, because they both already knew how hard it was to make a marriage work. How easily even the strongest love could be damaged.
And she would never—ever—keep something important from him again.
When the time for children came, they would face the decision together and discuss their options. And they did have options. Adoption. Foster care. Whatever shape their future took, they would choose it together. No more silence. No more secrets. No more lying to protect the other—
She caught sight of Beau and lost track of her thoughts. He had a napkin pressed to one eye again. Beside him, Val patted his arm with patient resignation. Apparently, Beau didn’t just cry during wedding ceremonies. He cried through wedding brunches, as well.
She’d wanted to keep everything simple. A simple ceremony.
A simple meal, instead of a formal lunch.
A simple dress—Terry and Carmen had insisted she buy something new, and she was glad she’d listened to them.
The ivory fabric skimmed softly over her body, and felt elegant but not overdone. In it, she felt truly beautiful.
Lorenz and all the male guests wore dark suits without ties, in keeping with the formal but relaxed atmosphere. Of course, Lorenz looked like a million bucks in his suit. She was going to have to get him to wear suits more often.
She hadn’t planned on flowers, but Kat and Carmen had surprised her with a small bouquet of mountain flowers—tiny green and white blooms that had been picked by all her kids at school. They were perfect.
Everything was perfect.
The truth was, Charlie had already done the wedding thing. She was ready to get on with the marriage.
And so was Lorenz, by the looks of it, from the way he kept looking at his watch.
“When can I take you away?” he asked.
“We can’t be the first to leave! Your friends—“
“My friends are all making bets about how long I’ll last before escaping with my wife.”
Wife.
Heat crept to her face. The word was going to take some getting used to.
“The only place we’re going, once we leave here, is to take a nap.”
She was only half-joking. The truth was, he looked like someone who’d gotten shot a few days earlier. She was pretty sure Val would have kept him at the hospital longer, if it hadn’t been for … this.
Lorenz smiled, showing off his dimples. “There will be time for napping … after.”
“Lorenz. We have the rest of our lives to—“
Vincent came up to them.
“Congratulations, again. I’m sorry I have to leave early.”
“Thank you for coming, Vincent,” Lorenz said, shaking Vincent’s hand.
“And thank you for—“ Charlie began.
Vincent shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me. And you don’t have to worry, either. Pelletier confessed to the vandalism. He wanted to scare you.”
“He succeeded,” Charlie said.
“How did he get her address?” Lorenz asked.
“He followed her home from school one day,” Vincent said.
So easy.
“Is he … how’s he doing?”
Vincent shook his head. “Still in jail, but his lawyer’s pushing for a full psych and medical evaluation.”
Charlie nodded. That made sense. She and Théo’s mother had spoken the day before, and the woman had expressed her shock and surprise at how quickly everything had happened—how quickly he’d gone from a loving husband and father, to …
to the man they’d seen up in the hut. Madame Pelletier was sure there was something physically wrong with her husband.
“He might never see any prison time,” Vincent continued. “But he won’t come near his son, or you, again.”
“I hope he gets the care he needs,” Charlie said. “Whatever happened, nobody wakes up one morning wanting to hurt their son.”
Lorenz’s hand tightened around her shoulder, but he didn’t say anything, and she loved him for that. Life was too short to hold onto hatred.
Vincent studied her for a long instant.
“You’re more forgiving than most people would be.”
Her gaze drifted to the windows, and the mountains beyond. “Just because I hope he gets help doesn’t mean I don’t think he should be held accountable.” She paused. “Théo will have to live with what happened for the rest of his life.”
“The boy’s okay?” Vincent asked.
“His mother says he’s doing much better. He’s spending the week in Bern with his grandparents.”
“Good,” Vincent nodded. “I’m glad to hear it.”
Charlie smiled. She would normally not encourage a child to miss school, but after everything that had happened, healing was the most important thing for Théo.
Her fingers found the braided cotton bracelet around her left wrist. Théo had pressed it into her hand before leaving, proudly explaining he’d chosen the blue and white threads because they reminded him of her and Lorenz.
It was uneven, the knots a little tight in some places and loose in others, but Charlie would treasure it always.
“Listen, I have to get back,” Vincent said, inclining his head. “Congratulations again.”
“You’re monopolizing your wife’s time,” a voice said behind them. “That’s no way to start a marriage. Charlie, a dance?”
“She doesn’t want to dance with you, Ry,” Lorenz said.
She didn’t want to dance with anyone but Lorenz, and Lorenz wasn’t going to be doing any dancing today.
“You’re a real grump, you know?”
“You’re only just noticing?” Alex asked, laughing.
Across from them, Beau stood. At least his eyes were dry now. “Alright,” he announced. “Before these two disappear … Champagne.”
Everyone reached for their glasses. Hugo reached for two and handed one carefully to Jo.
“To Charlie and Lorenz. Who’ve taken a complicated route up the mountain … and ended up exactly in the right place.”
Charlie locked eyes with Terry and Carmen. The two women who’d always had her back looked like they were fighting tears as they raised their glasses to her.
“I love you,” Terry mouthed.
Charlie lifted her glass. The champagne was cold and dry, because if her adoptive country knew how to do anything, that was champagne.
But she barely tasted it. Her attention kept drifting back to Lorenz.
To the fact that every time someone called her his wife, he smiled, showing those not-often-seen dimples of his.
“You’re drifting away,” Lorenz said in a low voice. “Does that mean it’s time to go?”
He lifted her hand, pressing a kiss against the inside of her wrist.
A small, intimate touch that made heat rush through her.
Maybe it was time to leave.
Charlie looked around the room once more, trying to hold on to every detail. The soft spring light. The crumbs from pastries on the white tablecloth. Charlie found herself smiling.
“Take me away, Lorenz,” Charlie said, placing her hand in his larger one.
“With great pleasure.”