Epilogue
ASH
Instead of Dad visiting for a surprise proposal, I decided to throw a surprise wedding instead where he can walk me down the aisle.
I wasn’t sure we would be able to throw something together that would satisfy the dream wedding scenario I refused to admit I have had since I was thirteen and realized boys could marry boys. Boy or girl, I didn’t care what I was. I only knew I wanted to marry a boy someday.
I will admit that I never would have been able to pull this off without my friends.
Having the manager of a drag club as your best friend and the owner of said club – who seems to know damn near every queen on the east coast – living across the street means that my dress was handled before I could even ask.
The rest of my friends pitched in what they could within their specialties.
Eli provided McKinley’s Tavern for the reception, free of charge. He said it wasn’t like he could open the bar anyways with his two best bartenders as the ones getting married and the rest of the staff being invited.
Lucky got his grandfather to allow the ceremony to happen at his ranch despite the old man being allergic to anything resembling marriage after his wife, Lucky’s grandmother, passed away…
much to his son’s aggravation. It’s been fun watching Joe and Eli bicker.
I love my friend dearly, but he needs to learn to forgive his father.
People make mistakes. Joe made a wrong choice that he’s been paying for since Eli was twelve.
I’ve met Lucky’s mother, unfortunately. I understand why Joe did what he did.
Shiloh designed the wedding cake that Toby created.
The pup has also been hard at work with his owner to bake all of the cookies for the cookie table.
Once he found out that weddings in the Pittsburgh area aren’t complete without a table full of cookies at the reception, he started planning.
I think we’re going to have like seventy different flavors unless Don managed to reel him back in.
We’re just lucky that Scott and Stan are handling the logistics and the actual food. Between the two of them, the attention to detail should mean that not a single detail will be missed. Plus, the only person who can outcook our culinary pup is our resident house mom.
Spencer is our official photographer. While his main income still comes from being a private detective, his photography business is starting to take off with some local authors contracting him to do photo shoots for book covers and head shots.
Of course, Lucky is going to be his assistant.
He was upset that he couldn’t be the ring bearer until Jace told him that Gerry gets that honor.
Lucky loves Gerry. It’s a strange friendship between them, absolutely. Yet it works.
Jackson is obviously Jace’s best man and Justice is going to be the officiant. Eric is my queen of honor because of course the brat needs a unique title.
And Dad is walking me down the aisle… in less than ten minutes.
Fuck, I’m so ready for this.
Someone needs to get Jackson away from the jukebox before Scott strangles him.
Hell, I might even take a pool cue to the back of my brother-in-law’s head if he plays another fucking Journey song.
After the third time “Don’t Stop Believing” played in under an hour, Eli was physically holding Scott back.
“I’m just gonna pop into the office real quick,” I whisper to my husband – gah! I love being able to refer to him as my husband now.
After logging into the computer, I open the program that loads the jukebox and remove all of the Journey songs from the active song choices.
I will change it back after Jace and I get back from our adults only honeymoon trip to Disney World.
Glancing through the rest of the list, I remove a few other songs that make my eye twitch whenever a drunken idiot plays them on repeat.
Then, I add in some songs that I know will get on Jackson’s last nerve.
I play them at home when he refuses to go back to the manor sometimes.
“What mischief is my spouse up to already?” Jace asks and pulls me away from the computer into his arms for a kiss.
“Making my brother-in-law miserable. What else?”
His smile lights up the room in that magical way, making me feel like the luckiest person that ever existed.
These days, I struggle to recall the soft, quiet giant who only gave the tiniest curling of his lips to others.
He has grown into my exuberant and loving toy, and I can’t imagine a world without him.
“Not to ruin the mood, but did you see the gift from your mother?”
Scoffing, I stomp out of the office straight to the gift table to see what the bitch thought might be a good gift for the child she treated as an accessory and political pawn for over twenty years.
It doesn’t take long for me to recognize which gift is from her.
She somehow took tacky to a whole new level.
The gifts from the drag queens are nowhere near as attention grabbing as the piece of shit she sent. It is almost admirable… Nope.
Without regard to tradition or anything resembling tact, I rip the paper away from the gift and laugh my ass off. In what universe would I ever use that?
“Chef Pup!”
Toby practically slides to a stop in front of me with a slightly tipsy Shiloh approaching much more lazily.
Don is smirking from the bar where he is sitting next to Spencer while Lucky colors away with a few of our other Little friends…
one of which seems to have caught my psychotic brother-in-law’s eye.
Oh, poor boy.
“Whatcha need Ashy-poo?” Toby asks, unable to keep still while the music is still playing.
I point to the now unwrapped gift and tell him he’s in charge of finding it the perfect home. He squeals in excitement and races off to carry out the task.
“Do you realize what you just did?” Jace whispers in my ear as we sway to the slow song I cued up to play next while we were in the office.
Oh hell yes I do. It’s time for the brat to finally be tamed… and the hacker to feel again.