EPILOGUE | London
EPILOGUE
London
ONE YEAR LATER...
“Very good, Lacy. Perfect form, Olivia. Just like that, Grace.” I walk down the line of girls. “Third position.” The class shifts. “And fifth.” Again, they move in unison.
“Is it just me or is this dance teacher a drill sergeant?”
I glance to the right just in time to see Penn land an elbow to Alec’s stomach.
An instant smile crosses my face, my heart doing a little flip in my chest at the sight of Penn. Dressed in a navy button-down and black slacks, he’s so handsome I could quite possibly melt right here in the middle of the floor.
Shaking off the trance I enter anytime Penn steps into a room, I glance at the clock, realizing I’ve lost track of time... Again. Class should have ended five minutes ago. You know you love your job when you’re constantly losing track of time because you’re enjoying yourself so much.
Then again, who wouldn’t love this job?
Like Penn had predicted all those months ago, there was definitely a market for a dance studio in Wren Cove. We opened six months ago and already have a waitlist for every single class. We were completely booked within two months of opening and things have only advanced since then.
I never thought anything could replace my dreams of being a big-city dancer, but I have to admit, I feel a sense of purpose teaching dance that I never felt when I was on a stage. There’s something so rewarding about teaching others something that is so dear to my heart.
I used to always wonder, why me. Why did that cab have to hit me? Why, after everything I had sacrificed, did my dream have to come to an end? Now, I see that God put me exactly where I was meant to be.
They say everything happens for a reason, and in this case, I tend to agree.
Because had I not been hit by that car, I wouldn’t have come home.
I wouldn’t have this incredible studio. I wouldn’t have the amazing friendships that I do.
I wouldn’t be here with my parents, getting to spend their older years with them.
And most importantly, I wouldn’t be getting ready to marry the love of my life.
I thought being on stage was the only way I could feel truly happy. Turns out, what makes me happy is everything that I had all along but took for granted. A mistake I will not make a second time.
“Great job today, class.” I refocus on the task at hand. “We’ll pick back up in two weeks. Dismissed.”
The dancers drop their positions and immediately start gathering their things. I wait until the last one leaves before turning back to where the Kade brothers are currently lurking.
“Looking good, LV.” Alec gives me that lopsided grin of his.
“Did you just tell my fiancée that she looks good?” Penn narrows his gaze on his brother.
“I meant teaching. Get your head out of the gutter,” Alec chastises his brother before throwing me a wink.
“You two bicker like an old married couple,” I say as I approach them, Penn tugging me into his arms the second I’m close enough to reach.
I melt into his embrace, breathing in his incredible scent.
“I missed you.” He waits until I look up at him to say.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I press up onto my tiptoes and kiss the corner of his mouth. “I missed you.”
“You two saw each other like three hours ago, did you not?”
I catch sight of Alec rolling his eyes in my peripheral.
“Ignore him.” Penn pulls me closer. “He’s just jealous.” He kisses me, a sweet, gentle peck, but it’s enough to send my blood into an instant boil. I can’t imagine a time will ever come when Penn’s touch doesn’t set me ablaze.
“Ugh, get a room.” Alec groans.
“I plan to.” Penn smiles against my mouth.
“Don’t we have a rehearsal to get to? I mean, you are the bride and groom. I think they kind of need you.”
“Bride and groom.” Penn draws back to look in my eyes. “I like the sound of that, but I think I like the sound of husband and wife even better.”
A million butterflies erupt in my stomach, making me feel on the verge of taking flight.
Husband and wife. I can hardly believe it. It felt like a fairy tale the night Penn asked; it still feels like a fairy tale today. I can honestly say that I’ve never been so happy in all my life, and I know without a doubt I owe that to Penn.
“Well, you won’t be either if we don’t get going.” Alec huffs. “Shall we?” He gestures toward the door, trying to hurry us along.
“Why did you bring him again?” I ask, reluctantly stepping out of Penn’s embrace.
“Um, best man.” Alec feigns offense.
“Oh, right.” I grin.
“I think I liked you better when my brother hated you,” he tells me.
“Well, that would make one of us.” I stick my tongue out at him.
“I never hated her.” Penn makes a point to say.
“On that note, we should go.” I usher them both toward the lobby.
THE REHEARSAL AND DINNER are over in what feels like the blink of an eye. One minute, we’re walking into the church; the next, Penn and I are pulling into the driveway of our home. Our home. I’ve been living here for four months, and it still doesn’t feel real.
“Did you see the way Alec was looking at Josie?” I ask Penn as I slide out of the passenger side of his truck. “He rivaled a wounded animal.”
“To be fair, I don’t think anyone has ever said no to my brother. I can’t believe he’s still sulking all these months later.”
“Because he loves her,” I say like it should be that obvious.
“Love or lust?” Penn asks, following me up to the house.
“With your brother, I’m not sure there’s a difference.” I laugh, waiting for Penn to unlock the front door before following him inside.
I no more than close the door before Penn turns and pins me to the cool wood.
“Josie is going to be here in thirty minutes,” I remind him, tilting my head to give him better access when his lips brush the side of my neck.
“I can accomplish a lot in thirty minutes.” He purrs against my skin, my entire body reacting to his words.
“I still have to pack,” I half-heartedly object.
“You’re already packed,” he reminds me, his lips moving to the other side of my neck.
“How do you know that?”
He draws back, meeting my gaze.
“Because I know you.” He gives me a half smile, trailing my jaw with the back of his hand ever so gently.
“Then you also know that I still need to shower and change before she picks me up.”
“I can help with that.” His hazel eyes twinkle with mischief.
“You can, can’t you?” I wrap my arms around the back of his neck.
“I think you’ll find I’m quite thorough too.” He kisses me slowly and deeply, making my toes curl in anticipation.
“Thorough and quick?”
“I can do that.”
“Deal.” Before I can even get the word all the way out, he hoists me off the ground, my legs going around his middle as he carries me through the house, removing articles of clothing as we go.
By the time we reach the bathroom, I’m naked from the waist up and so ravenous I swear I feel borderline animalistic. That’s what Penn does to me. He drives me absolutely mad in the best possible way.
Penn flips on the water, then makes quick work of removing the remainder of my clothes as well as his own before backing me into the shower.
The spray of water feels amazing on my skin, but not nearly as amazing as Penn’s hands feel.
As his lips feel. As he feels as he slowly enters me, filling me so full I feel at risk of splitting apart.
He keeps his word. Quick and thorough... very, very thorough. And yet, by the time we exit the shower, I still only have about five minutes before Josie is supposed to arrive.
Running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I throw on clothes, finish packing my toiletries and makeup, and have a small meltdown when I can’t find the necklace my mom gave me to wear tomorrow, my something old as it belonged to my grandmother.
I’m about to ask Penn if he’s seen it when I look up and see the necklace dangling from his finger as he stands in the doorway, shoulder resting against the frame like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“You seem stressed.” He observes.
“Well, someone has made me late,” I tell him, crossing the room to take the necklace, only when I try, he lifts it out of my reach.
“But not stressed about tomorrow?” He arches a brow.
“About the wedding, maybe a little. About marrying you, never. I’ve waited nearly my whole life to be Mrs. Penn Kade.” I smile.
He cups my face with his free hand, and I find myself unable to resist leaning into the touch.
“I’m going to spend every single minute of every day proving to you just how much I love you,” he promises.
“You already do.” I feel the need to point out, because he does.
“I love you.”
“I love you.” I press up, kissing his jaw. “And I can’t wait to be your wife.”
“I can’t wait to have you naked beneath me in our honeymoon suite.” He lifts his brows.
“Men.” I huff with a playful eye roll, even though I’m looking forward to that part just as much as he is.
“But first, I can’t wait to tie myself to you in every way humanly possible. You are my life, LV. You always have been. ’Bout time the whole world knows it too.”
It’s impossible to wrap my head around the fact that I almost let this man go forever. Once when I left for New York, and again when I found out about Cat being pregnant. But somehow, someway, we overcame every obstacle thrown in our way and surfaced on the other side stronger than ever.
Speaking of Cat, she had the baby, a little girl.
She totes her around town like a trophy, though she’s very tight-lipped about who the father is.
I think she wants people to believe it’s Penn’s baby.
It bothered me at first, but I’ve grown to accept that it doesn’t matter what people think.
Penn is mine and nothing is ever going to change that.
“Keep talking like that and I’m never going to leave,” I warn.
“Then my plan is working.” He gives me a cheeky grin and, once again, I’m taken by just how handsome he is.
Mine, my brain screams.
Mine...
“Keep looking at me like that, London, and I might not let you leave.” His nostrils flare.
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you want to devour me whole.”
“Maybe because I do,” I unapologetically say. “Maybe I—”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Freaking Josie and her impeccable timing.
“On second thought.” I pout.
“You’re sure you have to go?”
“Don’t worry, after tomorrow, I’m all yours,” I tell him, backing away.
“Forever?”
“Forever,” I confirm, quickly grabbing my bag off the floor before heading toward the living room, knowing if I don’t answer the door right now, I may never.
“Took you long enough.” Is the first thing out of Josie’s mouth when I tug the door open. She gets one look at me and something wicked flashes behind her eyes. “Couldn’t wait until tomorrow, I see.”
“Have you looked at the man? Can you blame me?”
“Can’t say that I do.” She smiles, eyeing said man as he enters the room behind me before her gaze darts back to me. “You about ready? Your mom is already at the hotel.”
“Of course she is.” I sigh. “Can you give me a minute to say goodbye?”
“Fine. But make it quick.” She grabs my bag before disappearing outside.
Penn slides up behind me, chin dropping to my shoulder.
“You forgot something.” He slides the necklace into my hand.
“I know it’s only one night, but I think I miss you already,” I admit, despite how pathetic it probably sounds.
“We get through tonight, and we will never spend another night apart for as long as we live.”
I turn in his arms so that I can look at his face.
“Promise?”
“I promise.” He lays a chaste kiss to my mouth. “Go, before I change my mind.”
I reluctantly step out of his embrace.
“I love you.”
“I love you.” He gives me one of those breathtaking smiles of his. “I’ll meet you at the altar.”
“I’ll be the one in white,” I quip, tugging open the front door.
“Hey, LV,” he calls just as I step out onto the porch.
“Yeah?” I turn.
“Tomorrow is the first day of forever.”
“Then it can’t come soon enough.” I give him a watery smile before pulling the door closed behind me.
Making my way toward Josie’s car, I’m struck by just how incredibly blessed I am to have Penn in my life.
I may have given him up once, but we still found our way back. To each other. To this moment. To our forever.
Some loves are like the stars, doomed to burn out in the end.
But not me and Penn.
We are the kind of love that learned how to survive, through storms, through silence, through every version of who we’re still becoming. And even if the world tried to convince me otherwise, I know this much is true... We weren’t meant to fade or burn out. We were meant to last.
And for once, forever doesn’t feel like a promise; it feels like certainty. Because no matter how far apart we strayed, we found our way back... Across the distance between stars...
The End