EPILOGUE
Nia
Emmy’s mouth was on her, and thank God for that because Nia had missed it.
“Yes, baby. Don’t stop.”
“Why would I stop? I had to go a whole week without you. I want you all night long,” Emmy replied.
Emmy had been at an academic conference for four days, but her flight had been canceled due to terrible weather, and in order to get out at all, she’d had to rent a car and drive to another airport where she’d gotten a flight, had a long layover, and had finally gotten home to Nia, who had been patiently waiting, worried for her girlfriend.
Emmy would’ve waited a day or two for another flight, but they had a wedding to go to tomorrow, and it was already after eleven at night.
She would have missed it otherwise, and while that wouldn’t have been the end of the world, Emmy knew Nia wanted to go to the event with her girlfriend on her arm.
“Fuck! Yes,” she said when Emmy slid two fingers inside her.
“I missed you,” Emmy replied.
“God, I missed you, too. Why do you have to be such a popular professor who has to go on these trips?”
“It’s only the second one since we met.” Emmy laughed a little. “Now, focus, love.”
That had always been one of Emmy’s terms of endearment for her since they’d started dating, but after they’d told one another that they loved each other for the first time, it became the primary one she used.
Nia loved it, and she loved Emmy. They’d been together for a little over a year, and they were taking their first trip together to celebrate their anniversary in a few weeks.
Nia couldn’t wait to be on a beach with the woman she loved.
She expected Emmy to be tired from the day she had, but she didn’t seem to be as she kissed Nia hard, stroking her slowly inside.
Nia could always tell when Emmy missed her like this.
They fucked, yes, but whenever Emmy missed touching her, she did so slowly the next time they were together, and that always seemed to be what Nia’s body craved.
“I’m close,” she said and placed her hand on the back of Emmy’s head.
Emmy sucked harder, curling her fingers a little faster, and Nia came undone beneath her.
“God, baby. I needed that,” she said when she caught her breath.
“So did I.” Emmy climbed back up her body. “You’re beautiful. I didn’t say that when I first walked in.”
“You don’t have to say it every time, you know?” Nia laughed.
“Oh, yes, I do.”
“I really missed you.” She cupped Emmy’s cheek. “And I missed this.” She looked down and took in Emmy’s body. “But I just missed you being here.”
“Me too. The good news is that I don’t have any more conferences scheduled right now, and we’re about to go–”
“Move in with me,” Nia interrupted.
“What?”
“Move in with me. I love you. Move in here.”
“You don’t want to wait until the effects of that orgasm I just gave you die down before you ask that question?” Emmy chuckled.
“I want you to move in with me. I want you home.”
“My lease has–”
“Six months left, I know. Break it or keep it, but move your stuff in here. I want you here with me, Em.”
“Before or after our trip?”
“Before, if we can do it. If not, right when we get back.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Nia asked.
“Yes, okay. I was going to ask you on our trip anyway.”
“You were?”
Emmy nodded and said, “At dinner, where there would have been wine, and I’d be wearing a nice dress.”
“I like you better naked,” Nia stated, rolling them over. “Can we go ring shopping on our trip?”
“What?” Emmy asked with another laugh. “We were just talking about moving in together.”
“I want to be prepared for the next step.”
“And when is that happening, exactly?”
“We’ve talked about it. Don’t act like you don’t want to marry me.”
“Oh, I absolutely want to marry you,” Emmy replied. “But I can’t go shopping for your ring, love.”
“Why not?”
“Because I already have it. It’s hidden at my place because we’re never there. You couldn’t find it that way.”
Nia sat back, straddling her, and asked, “You already have it?”
“I bought it two months ago. I saw it and just thought of you.”
“You–”
“Yes, love,” Emmy replied when Nia said nothing else. “So, if you want to go shopping for mine, we can do that, because whenever one of us asks that question, I have a feeling the answer is going to be yes.”
“Then, ask it,” Nia suggested.
“Now? We’re in bed and naked.”
“So?” Nia said. “I’ll ask it if you don’t.”
“Nia, let’s move in together and go on our trip.”
Emmy rubbed her thighs.
“I love you, Emmy Hammond,” she said.
“I love you, too.”
“And if you want the whole romantic proposal thing, we can wait. I’ll get you that ring and even get down on one knee. But I am marrying you. I’ve waited so long for you, Em. I don’t want to wait too much longer to call you my wife.”
“Understood,” Emmy said and sat up to kiss between Nia’s breasts. “I’ll book movers tomorrow.”
“I’ll help you pack,” she replied, smiling at the woman she had known she’d marry since that first day at the coffee shop.
Becky
“Thank you for coming,” she said, hugging her friend.
“We wouldn’t have missed it,” Nia replied. “You two didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“Nope, we sure didn’t.”
She turned to find her wife talking to Sharon and Debra.
Her wife. Becky still couldn’t believe it.
Of course, she’d only been married for a few hours, so she’d probably get used to calling Helena her wife later.
She’d been a beautiful bride. Helena had chosen to wear an ivory suit, while Becky had gone with a short ivory dress to match instead of the more standard, long and white one.
Helena had waited for her at the end of the aisle, and Becky had joined her there already with tears in her eyes.
She had told herself she wouldn’t cry, but she should’ve known better.
“Engaged three months in? Insert lesbian joke here,” Nia teased.
“Hey, I’m still mad at you for keeping it a secret that Helena was going to be there.”
Becky gave her a playful glare.
“No, you’re not,” Nia replied. “You probably wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“True,” she agreed. “You going to be okay while we’re on our honeymoon?”
After Nia had finished the first draft of her book, she’d asked Becky if she could use any help at her own matchmaking company.
Becky had been introduced to Emmy around that time, and she’d been able to see from moment one how much Nia had already been in love with the woman.
Nia had also just told her that Emmy was about to move in with her.
Becky was really happy for her friend, and work had been busier than ever for both of them, so she and Nia had even talked about combining their two companies into one.
Nia had someone running her business and doing well with Nia’s guidance, but it was possible that in a year or so, Becky and her would be true business partners as opposed to Nia just helping out at Becky’s company.
“We’ll be fine,” Nia said. “I was planning on burning the place down while you’re gone. Is that wrong?”
“She’s joking. She won’t be burning anything down because we have a trip of our own right after yours, and I’m not bailing her out of jail,” Emmy said and took Nia’s hand.
“Hello, wife,” Helena spoke when she moved behind her and wrapped her arms around Becky’s waist.
“Hello, wife,” she replied with a smile.
“Oh, you’re going to be those people, aren’t you?” Nia joked.
“You’ll be the same, and I, personally, can’t wait to see it,” Becky teased. “When is the proposal?”
“Shut up.” Nia laughed and sipped her champagne. “Not all of us get married a year after we get together.”
“We got a little head start,” Helena said. “Sort of, anyway. But I didn’t want to wait just because other people wait. I love her. We were already living together, so we knew we could handle that part, and I wanted to be married to her. No regrets.”
“I’d hope not; we just said, ‘I do.’ No take-backs now, babe,” Becky told her.
“Never,” Helena replied.
“I’m happy for you two,” Nia said.
“Me too,” Emmy added. “Congratulations!”
“Want to dance?” Helena asked, spinning Becky around to face her.
Becky laughed and said, “Yes, I do. Let’s go, Wife.”
Nia laughed at them as Helena pulled Becky onto the dance floor and took her in her arms.
“I love you,” Helena said.
“I love you, too,” Becky replied.
Debra
“When do you leave?” Carrie asked.
“We’ll be home this week and leave next Saturday. We’ve got a lot of last-minute packing to do,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s last-minute when today is a Saturday. That’s a week.”
“It is for me,” Debra returned. “I like to plan ahead.”
“Speaking of which: are you still planning on doing it?”
Debra smiled and said, “I have the ring packed already.”
“I’m really happy you two found each other,” Carrie replied and sipped her water.
“Me too,” Debra said. “And she has no idea, so please don’t tell Gage. I don’t think your girlfriend can keep a secret worth a damn.”
“Oh, she can. She just chooses not to sometimes.” Carrie shrugged. “But I love her. What can I say?”
“Is three weeks too long for a trip?”
“What? No way.”
“It’s just that Sharon got the job a month ago, but we’d already planned the trip. They gave her the time off, but she’s been worried that they might be upset about it now, or that it’ll hurt her trajectory there.”
“No, it’s not too long. And if they gave it to her, they gave it to her. Want me to talk some sense into her? She’s getting to spend three weeks with the love of her life in the English countryside. That’s the dream.”
“Not for everyone.”
Carrie laughed and said, “True.”
“What if she says no?”
“Why would she say no?”
“We just moved in together. It was a big move for her, and we’re still getting settled in, but when I saw the cottage we could rent now, I just had to go for it. I didn’t before, and I regretted it. I don’t want regrets with her.”
“She’s going to say yes,” Carrie assured. “She loves you. She wants to marry you.”
“But it’s–”
“Debra, she’ll say yes.”