Epilogue Clarke
EPILOGUE
Clarke
“Are you ready?” Collins asked, knocking on the door to the upstairs bathroom at Toades. “It’s almost showtime.”
“Yeah,” I said through the door. “Be right out.” I took one last look at my hair, smoothed out my dress, and gave my lips a quick dab. My lipstick matched the ruby engagement ring on my left finger, which had only been empty for a few months.
A few wonderful months of Leith and me being together, for real, integrated into each other’s lives, laughing and living and falling more in love.
Then he decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and proposed to me—for the second time—over dinner at my kitchen counter.
He pulled the ring out of his pocket and slid it over to me.
I picked it up off the counter, slid it on, and we kept eating dinner.
I didn’t know which proposal I preferred out of the two of them, honestly. Both of them felt perfect for that specific moment. Leith Wilkes knew how to read a room.
When I walked out of the bathroom, Collins was waiting for me in the hall. “Where is she?” I asked.
“In the console room,” Collins said. “I think she’s nervous.”
“Why is she nervous?” I asked. “She’s literally about to marry her husband.
” My parents were getting remarried today.
They had filed for divorce to freeze their assets and protect Toades from Sullivan Industries.
A few weeks after everything went down with the farm, my mom received a letter in the mail, letting her know that Sullivan had decided to withdraw the offer and that anything she had signed was not binding.
Sullivan had failed at getting his claws into this town and officially moved on from Sweetwater Peak.
Even though my parents never had to finalize their divorce, Collins and I still thought they should get married again—even if it was just for show. The four of us had been through a lot over the past couple years, and we all deserved some happiness.
And a party in our beautifully renovated shop.
Collins looked beautiful in a deep blue, almost black one-shoulder dress that showed off her tattoos. I opted for the same red dress I wore to Lainey’s prom.
“Open up, Mom,” I said while tapping my knuckle against the door to the console room. I could hear Patsy Cline playing on the other side.
“We gotta get this show on the road,” Collins said. “You’re not getting any younger.”
The door swung open a few seconds after that. “Who raised you?” Joanie asked and Collins laughed.
“You look stunning,” I said. Of course, she wasn’t wearing white, but instead, her signature color: a deep, rich purple.
The dress she was wearing was long and drapey, with fringe along each seam and bell sleeves.
Her gray hair had a lavender tint to it and was pulled into a long braid down her back.
“Dex Cartwright is a lucky fella,” Collins agreed.
“Why do I feel so jittery?” Joanie asked. “We’ve been married for thirty-five years!”
“Maybe it’s the pomp and circumstance,” Collins said.
“And the fact that most of the town is in the Toades backyard right now,” I chimed in.
“You two are just lovely, you know that?” My mom’s voice was oozing with sarcasm, and Collins and I flashed each other a grin.
News about Sullivan trying to buy Toades and the farm had made its way through the town rumor mill. People were thrilled and grateful for what my family had done—for what Leith did, too—to keep this town standing.
Mrs. Papadakis even gave Collins a hug the last time she saw her at the grocery store, which was crazy considering all she’d given Collins for the past twenty-five years was dirty looks.
But Sweetwater Peak belonged to all of us, and we would always defend her.
“You have nothing to worry about,” I said. “That’s your husband down there. He’s been obsessed with you as long as I’ve known him.”
“Me too,” Collins said.
“Me three,” Earnest said behind us, and Collins relayed the message.
“Well, Earnest has technically known us the longest.” My mom sighed.
“That’s a long time to love someone.” We hadn’t found a way to free Earnest and Adeline from the secrets, so now getting them together was a family affair.
Collins and I took turns, and if my parents or Brady or Leith were at the shop, they’d do it instead.
Love takes a village, and, even in death, Earnest had a big one.
One night after Collins got Adeline to appear by sharing with the world that she’d gotten a ghost to remove one of our teachers’ toupees in junior high, I told Earnest I was sorry that his happy ending wasn’t different—that he still had obstacles to overcome.
He told me that just because a happy ending wasn’t perfect didn’t mean it wasn’t worth fighting for.
“Tell your mom that the love she and Dex have transcends it all,” Earnest said. “I know. I’ve seen it.”
“Earnest says the love you and dad have is special,” I said. “And I agree.”
“Me too. For what it’s worth,” Collins said. “We’re reflections of it, I think.”
“Well,” my mom said, putting a hand on each of our cheeks. “If that’s the case, it must be quite beautiful, then, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Collins and I said at the same time and our mom pulled both of us into a hug.
“Are we ready?” I asked. “How’s your heart?”
“Ready,” my mom said. Earnest pushed the door open all the way for us as we walked out—he was a gentleman.
Brady was on secret duty today. He should be in the bathroom spilling his guts with a sheet over his head right about…
now. I looked back at Earnest before we turned the corner, and his face had gone all lovey before he faded into thin air.
I pushed out my feelers and felt the unmistakable and formidable presence of Adeline Bennett in the house. Right on time.
We passed a gaggle of ghosts on the way down the stairs—all of them showing up and showing out for the steward of their home.
There was a little bit of pressure at the back of my skull. I took a deep breath and visualized opening my heart. I heard all their voices at once, and it was okay.
I was okay.
I felt…better. I’d been seeing a therapist based in Jackson.
She told me that I’d been experiencing high-functioning depression.
It probably stemmed from long-term stress, and even though I didn’t tell her everything, it felt obvious to me that the stress she was talking about was inextricably linked to my abilities and how I had been pushing them away.
I’d been doing that until I’d found myself in an intense episode of burnout.
I wasn’t out of it yet. I honestly didn’t know if I ever would be.
It frustrated me at first that there weren’t linear steps I could take to just feel normal, but then I realized I didn’t know if I’d ever felt “normal.” Some days were good and some days were bad, but now I was present for all of them.
I didn’t wish them away or isolate myself.
I just got to exist in my world, and it made me realize that my world was special.
Once we got down the stairs, I called to Lainey, who was standing at the back door—waiting for our arrival.
“Now,” I said. Lainey pulled out her phone and pressed play on my mom’s bridal march—“All My Love” by Led Zeppelin, of course.
She walked down the aisle with Collins and me on either side of her.
She took a moment once we got to the front row of people to squeeze Boone’s hand before she went right into the arms of my dad, who, in this moment, was the happiest man on earth—alive or dead. I was sure of it.
Leith had his hand on the small of my back as we watched my parents have their second first dance. “I love this dress on you,” he whispered in my ear. “I love it off you too.”
“Shut up,” I mumbled. “We are at my parents’ wedding.” I felt his laugh on the back of my neck.
“Ours next?” he asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “If you behave.”
“Not in my nature, honey.”
“Believe me.” I sighed. “I’m aware.”
“You love it.”
“No, I love you,” I said. Leith grabbed my chin and turned my head to the side so he could kiss me.
I never got tired of this—of being with him.
Before Leith, it wasn’t that I was unhappy with my relationships or that I felt like I needed a romantic relationship to be fulfilled.
It was just that there were parts of me that platonic love and familial love didn’t reach, but Leith filled in all the gaps.
“You guys are grossing everyone out,” Collins said as she came to stand next to me—arm in arm with Brady. “At least keep your tongue to yourself, golden boy.”
“No can do,” Leith said. Brady laughed.
Collins’s book comes out next year—half photography, half memoir. She was going to embark on a ten-city book tour with a couple of small-town stops in between. Of course, Brady was going to be there every step of the way.
Since being home Collins had dedicated most of our time to constructing a comprehensive town archive, and to thoughtfully restoring her beloved Buick Electra with Boone.
All the librarians, alive and otherwise, were obsessed with her.
They were also deeply impressed with the organization of the records she’d been stashing in the post office tunnels.
Without the threat of Sullivan Industries looming over us, my entire family felt lighter.
Truthfully, the entire town felt lighter.
If we all weren’t sure about it before, we were now: Winds would howl, storms would rage, and the world around us would change, and we would with it, but no matter what, Sweetwater Peak would always survive.
And all of us were better for it.
As for Dex and Joanie, my dad had recently made the decision to retire from Papadakis Trucking after nearly forty years of transporting produce and goods across America. He returned from his last route the day before yesterday.
Even though my mom wasn’t officially retired—I didn’t think she ever would be—she had handed the reins to Toades over to me.
After I told my parents about the scheme Leith and I had cooked up, I think my mom realized that there was someone out there who could love Toades as much as she did, and it was me.
Now it was my name on the business records.
It couldn’t have come at a better time because my dad had pulled through with the most incredible wedding present: a 1987 Ford Boaterhome that he’d seen rotting on someone’s property during a route. He bought it for a bargain, towed it to Boone’s, and spent weeks getting it in working order.
Tomorrow, my parents would set off on their summer road trip slash honeymoon. They didn’t have a destination, but my dad had mapped out a few stops on a paper map, and they were ready to take on any landscape thrown their way.
And I was ready to hold things down here.
Oh, and the ghost in my house? Her name is Betty.
I interlocked my fingers with Collins’s, and she laid her head on my shoulder. This—right here—is exactly where I belong: surrounded by my lucky stars.