Epilogue
Ivy
Mom puts her hands on my shoulder and meets my eyes through the mirror in a dressing room at the Hutton Hotel.
Her blonde hair is swept back in a French twist. Her makeup is on point, highlighting a pair of sky-blue eyes just like mine.
And for the first time in my life, her smile looks real.
“I can’t believe my little girl’s getting married! ”
“And I can’t believe mine’s finally getting a divorce.
” Grandma stands behind my other shoulder, beaming at us through the mirror.
“The choices I made with my husband affected you, Sheila, which led to your choices affecting Ivy. I’ve carried so much guilt about that over the years. But here we all are. Together. Free.”
“And strong,” Mom says, her eyes misting.
“And capable,” Grandma adds.
“And loved.” I place a hand on my heart, pleased beyond measure to have these women with me. “It feels so good to be loved.”
Not long after my engagement, my mother called, sobbing so hard I couldn’t always understand her.
She’d been mulling over everything I said on the phone when my relationship with Micah was new and slowly but surely, she’d seen the truth of her marriage for herself.
How Dad twisted her thoughts until she genuinely thought she was losing her mind.
How he made her believe she was so broken that every idea she had was wrong, so all she dared do was agree with him.
The more time passed with me here in the Keys, she saw how happy and strong I was becoming.
She reconnected with Grandma and the two of them had several difficult but honest conversations, and Mom finally decided she wanted out of her marriage.
It took some time, and a whole lot of bravery, but my mother finally left Dad right after the New Year.
It was the contrast between the sterile evening she spent with her husband and the pictures of Micah, Nell, Grandma, and me at a Hutton party—all of us laughing and smiling and wearing ridiculous hats—that finally did it.
Mom’s been living with Grandma for the last couple months, trying to remember herself.
They come to dinner every Friday, and Mom spends time with Nell in a way she never has.
Watching her come out of her shell has been one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
Though I guess that could be said for all of us.
Mom pins my veil into place, smoothing the lace down my back. “You look beautiful, my darling.” She turns to Nell, who’s sitting cross-legged in a chair beside me, reading. “Doesn’t your mom look beautiful?”
Nell glances up from her comic book and nods. “She looks like a princess, and not in a bad way.”
Mom fiddles with my veil even though it’s perfectly smooth. Her smile is warm and her eyes glitter with pride and unshed tears. “Is there a bad way to look like a princess?”
Nell closes her book and climbs onto her knees, crushing the royal blue dress she picked out for herself. “Remember when I told you about the girl in the dress in Aunt Cat’s pool? She looked like a princess and it was bad. Real bad. But we haven’t seen her in a long time.”
A soft knock sounds at the door and Micah’s mom pokes her head in.
“It’s time!” she squeals, then dabs her eyes.
“Oh, Ivy. I can’t believe we’re finally welcoming you to the family.
You’ve always been an honorary Hutton, but I’m so happy to finally make it real! I always knew you’d end up one of us.”
My mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and daughter all hug me and tears wobble in my vision. I pull back, waving my hands at my eyes to dry them. “Five strong women in this room,” I manage. “I love you all to pieces.”
After another round of hugs and a few more tears, we shuffle out of the dressing room and wait for our cue. As the bridal march sounds, I step forward. Micah smiles, his hand on his heart like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
I elected not to have my father give me away.
I’m not his to give. The choice to marry Micah is mine and mine alone and each step down the aisle is symbolic.
Me, strong on my own, walking towards my future, my husband, a man who knows the difference between support and control.
A man who will help me grow into my best self, a man who swears I’ll return the favor.
A man who promised to love me forever.
And we all know what it means when Micah Hutton makes a promise.
Micah
“Ladies and gentlemen!” The emcee’s voice booms over the speaker in the reception hall. “May I have your attention! For the first time as husband and wife, please welcome Mr. and Mrs. Micah Hutton and their daughter, Penelope Michaela Hutton!”
I take Ivy’s hand on one side and Nell’s on the other and we step into the reception hall as a family.
My daughter was over the moon the day she became a Hutton.
She wiggled and danced after the paperwork was signed, gleefully singing her new name for everyone to hear.
That’s when the idea to have her announced along with Ivy and me struck.
Ivy cried when I suggested it, much like she’s crying now, standing in front of an army of family while they cheer and clap and whistle, celebrating our union.
We cut the cake and have our first dance as husband and wife, followed by a Daddy Daughter dance for me and Nell, while Dad spins Ivy around the dance floor with the ease of a man used to being the center of attention.
“You look very beautiful tonight, LG,” I say to my little girl. “Even if you are wearing a dress.”
She laughs, wrinkling her nose in that adorable way of hers. “You look like Batman when he’s not Batman.”
“You mean Bruce Wayne?”
“Yeah. All rich and handsome. But I guess he looks grumpy a lot, and you look happy, so you’re not just like him. It’s just the clothes and the hair.”
“And the handsome,” I add, lifting her little feet onto mine and spinning her across the floor while she giggles wildly.
When the song ends, Ivy and I join my cousin Angela and her husband Garrett at a table.
“Have you seen Nator To—I mean Nathan?” I ask, scanning the crowd. “I think I spied his sullen ass when we walked in, but I haven’t seen him since.”
“He was here for a little while. Saw you cut the cake and have your first dance.” Angela folds her arms over her chest, looking worried and trying to hide it. “He told me to tell you the wedding was beautiful.”
Yeah. No. I’m not buying it.
I mimic her posture and lean in close. “My bullshit meter is through the roof, Angel.”
Anyone else would fight me, but Angela and I have always been honest with each other. “Fine. Nathan said love was a trap he hopes never to fall into. He looked pretty miserable.”
“And like he’d been hitting the open bar a little hard,” Garrett adds with a frown.
Well, shit. I hoped he’d have popped back from his slump by now. “That whole Blossom thing messed with his head more than I thought it would.”
“He said he’d never be stupid enough to get married.” Angela gives me an apologetic smile. “Not after what happened with her.”
Nathan’s grown more and more bitter since he learned the truth about Blossom.
I keep swearing he’ll snap out of it, but he seems desperate to prove me wrong.
He’s settling into life as a grumpy recluse, and I was sure seeing how happy I am with Ivy would make him drop the lone wolf act and bring him back to his Golden Retriever self.
“Is he really building a giant house out by Shadow Cove?” Ivy asks.
Angela shrugs. “Last I heard.”
“Good ole Nator Tot won’t stay like this. He can’t. He may be looking into building a big ass mansion of solitude right now, but he won’t go through with it. Nathan doesn’t do seclusion,” I say, shaking my head.
“He does now.” Garrett sounds like it’s a done deal and it’s not. It just isn’t. Nathan is too good, too pure, too genuinely nice to play the evil villain isolating himself in a big ass house card.
My cousin Nick sidles up to us, all buzz-cutted and dress-blued, looking every bit the hero he is.
He thumps me on the back then turns to Ivy.
“I can’t imagine a reason to look so worried in front of a bride who looks this happy.
” He takes her hands and kisses her cheek, then we fill him in on the Nathan discussion.
“He’s hurting,” Nick says with a grimace. “Retreating to lick his wounds. I’ve seen it happen too many times with Marines who’ve been injured. The psychological damage takes longer to heal than the physical damage.”
I love Nathan to death but getting dumped by some ball-busting parasite isn’t exactly the same as what Nick and his buddies go through. “I’m not sure getting Blossomed is anywhere near as traumatic as the shit you deal with on a daily basis.”
“I don’t know,” Nick says with a shrug. “Trusting someone enough to love them? That takes an immense amount of vulnerability. Having that trust shattered can do some real damage. But Nate’s got support, so hopefully, he’ll be back to his old self by the time I’m done with this next op.
It’ll be a long one, so he’ll have time.
” Something in Nick’s eyes says there’s more he wants to say, but a shriek sounds across the hall, with childish laughter chasing behind as Nell hits the dance floor with Tucker’s twins, Flora and Mitchell.
I meet Tucker’s eyes across the room and lift a hand. He looks great. No cane. Big smile. He’s been back to work for the last several months and happier than ever. He grins, then intervenes as Mitchell and Flora get into a squabble.
There’s dancing and drinking, laughing and so many conversations with so many people that the evening blurs into one giant warm feeling. Throughout it all there’s Ivy’s smile. Her hand in mine. The brush of her lips. The knowledge that after all these years, she’s finally back in my arms. Forever.
My wife.
My bride.
My past. My present. My future.
“What’s got you smiling so big, Mr. Hutton,” Ivy whispers, leaning her head against my shoulder.
I draw her close, my hands slipping low on her back as I press my forehead to hers. “You, Mrs. Hutton. It’s always, always been you.”
I hope you loved your time with Micah, Ivy, and Nell!