Epilogue - Hailey
Six months later…
“I’m so happy you girls chose to get married here in Ferndale.”
Mom slid her hand over my shoulder, smoothing the sleeve of my wedding dress. It was lacy and fitted, with elbow length sleeves and a skirt that flared out right above the knees. I’d known it was the perfect dress for me when I found it in a wedding resale store just outside of L.A.
Rick had been with me that day, and even the gruff bodyguard said it looked like it was made for me.
Tori still couldn’t believe I’d only spent two hundred dollars on it.
I didn’t want to know how much she spent on her dress.
The few arguments we’d had were about money, but gradually we were meeting in the middle.
I was learning to be less frugal, and she was learning to be less extravagant.
I’d been living with Tori for six months now, and I’d never been happier.
At her publicist’s suggestion, not long after I moved in we had Oprah to the house.
The woman had been so famous for so long that even I knew who Oprah was.
We’d given her an exclusive interview about our relationship and Tori’s plan to retire from acting to focus on her new production company.
Just as the publicist had predicted, the Oprah interview took a lot of the attention off our relationship, and knowing that Tori was leaving acting to go behind the camera led to decreased interest in her.
We still were followed by paparazzi, but their numbers were dwindling the longer that Tori was out of the spotlight.
In a few more months, we might be able to move around the city freely, like normal people.
“The best thing about Ferndale – besides you being here of course – is that even the highest paid private investigator in Los Angeles had a hard time finding me here,” I said. “It’s the perfect place for a secret wedding.”
Rick knocked on the door. “Are you ladies ready?”
Somehow the bodyguard had become our de facto wedding planner. He pretended to hate it, but both Tori and I knew he actually was thrilled to help.
“We are.”
“I’ll walk you down.”
As we’d practiced, Tori and I approached the officiant from opposite directions, walking towards each other. Mom was standing up for me, and Pepper was standing up for Tori. We had fewer than thirty guests in attendance, the kind of quiet, intimate wedding we’d both always wanted.
We hadn’t invited Tori’s mom. Barbara had left the house she’d been living in kicking and screaming, causing a big public spectacle, and after numerous calls and emails attacking us, Tori had threatened her with a restraining order.
We had no idea where she was or what she was doing now, but we both figured that she’d turn up sooner or later, likely with her tell-all book.
As for me, I didn’t need to work, not when I was marrying one of the wealthiest women in the world. But I wanted to. I didn’t like the idea of being idle, and I really didn’t like not being productive.
We’d settled on me using my skills to volunteer at local nonprofits, and that was keeping me as busy as a full-time job would have – at least until we were ready to start a family.
I walked towards my future wife, feeling bemused that this was the same woman who’d never had a peanut butter sandwich until I met her. She’d evolved a lot over the year since we’d met, but then again so had I.
Somehow, impossibly, we were the perfect match. And when the officiant declared us married and I kissed my bride, I was more than happy to start my happily ever after.