Epilogue
Rosemary
One Week Later . . .
Surrounded by their nearest and dearest, the bar was full. Louis had hired it so they could have a party and celebrate their engagement.
Everyone had a drink in their hand. Food was just about to come out so everyone could help themselves to the buffet. Music was loud, but it invited people to dance and be merry.
Rosie felt so blissful. It had been days since her confession. The team had absorbed her back in with no problems, and the stories had stopped. Instead, everyone was talking about their engagement.
She was so surprised that Louis had taken her back, but extremely grateful. She would show how much she loved this man every day for the rest of her life. She meant what she said, and she would learn the difference between love and control.
She was lucky he had taken her back, understanding that she had been pushed to that point.
It was not something she would take for granted and would make sure he felt loved, too.
All she had needed to do was be open to love.
Good love, not toxic love. And to love herself, choosing what she wanted instead of doing things to make others love her.
Louisa had been right. No matter what Louis did, it would have been wrong in her eyes. But he had proven how much he loved her, and it was time to get over her parents. He was what he wanted, and she had fought for him.
After his proposal, Rosie had told him everything. Louis had been furious at her parents, but he hadn’t bad-mouthed them. He simply asked how he could help. Right now, all she needed was him by her side. Louis very rarely left it, and it was only because they were working that he had to leave her.
Right now? His much bigger hand covered her own, keeping them together as they walked through the crowd and greeted their guests.
Even Arthur had made it, invited as a special guest. He was by the bar and raised a drink to them.
“You gonna allow us to let off some steam?” Morgan taunted cheekily as he pushed through the crowd to reach them.
He gasped as he lifted a drink in the air. Ajax was right behind him, trying to shove a whole burger in his mouth. The young player nearly choked himself, but he recovered quickly.
“You two are absolute fools,” Louis responded, rolling his eyes at their antics.
His smirk told her he was trying not to laugh. Rosie did chuckle. It felt good to laugh, and these two made an effort to make her do it every day.
“Just a little bit. But not too much,” Rosie teased. “Otherwise, I may have to ask your coach to make you do more laps.”
Morgan gawped at her. “You are so mean!” Then he gave her a hug. “Thanks, Harpy. Enjoy your party.”
With that, they wandered off to be a menace to someone else.
“Told you the team wanted you back,” Louis murmured, kissing her hair.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t enjoy his words or his kiss.
Suddenly feeling cold when the door opened, her back stiffened.
Her parents had arrived. Rosie and Louis had decided to invite them in the hope of offering that branch.
They wanted to give them a chance to apologise and reconnect.
It was up to her parents now to initiate that effort.
Sensing their arrival, Louisa was in the background ready to step in if needed.
Her parents walked side by side as they approached. The crowd seemed to separate to give them room. Louis wrapped his arms around her, ready to support her but not step in unless asked. This was her moment. It felt so warm and safe in his embrace, she never wanted to leave. It gave her confidence.
Her mother cleared her throat. “Many congratulations on your betrothal. I hope you will be very happy together.” She gave such a sad smile. “You have proven us wrong, Louis. I am so sorry for what we have said and done.”
Louis inclined his head but did not say anything. He was angry and did not want to do anything to make their relationship worse.
Rosie nodded. “Thank you.”
Her father winced. “It is a shame he did not ask for my permission first. Is that not the tradition?”
Louis tensed, Rosie felt his shoulders tighten. But he still didn’t respond, keeping his word to be civil and let her handle it. Instead, she stroked his arm to soothe him.
“As if you would have given it,” Rosie reminded him. “Besides, it is not your decision to make, but mine. You would have taken that moment away from us.”
That caused her father to scowl, then his whole body deflated. Rosie had never seen him so defeated. “You have every right to be disappointed in us. As your parents, we wanted what was best for you. But did you have to put that all over the internet?” her father asked, betrayed. “That was private.”
Louis’s grip on her tightened, sensing her anger. It was boiling, and she had to breathe for a moment just to calm down again.
“You made me choose. Either you and the life you wanted, or Louis and the life I wanted. And I had always chosen you. I wanted to be loved and make you proud of me. I was so desperate for you to be happy for me and the life I chose, and all you wanted was control. You wanted more and more from me.” She swallowed, feeling tears start.
“That was until Louisa reminded me that Louis never made me choose. He accepted my choices. Louis proved you wrong. He proved he loved me and that he would choose me over everything. Together, we have a future,” Rosie told her father.
“You were planning to control my future. My heart. And you didn’t even care. ”
“We could have talked about it,” her father stated. “In private.”
“We could have,” Rosie agreed. “But I hurt Louis in public. The world was invested. They needed to know why I was the way I was. Not to make you the enemy, but so I could prove that Louis was worth fighting for.
“Besides, you would have just argued with me in private since you never listen to me. I made a choice. I chose Louis. Now you need to choose. You accept him, or you accept neither of us.”
Behind her, she heard Louisa clap. “Yes! Get them!”
It hadn’t gotten past Rosie’s notice that their parents hadn’t even looked at Louisa, let alone greeted her. They knew they had no chance to rectify their relationship with her. They still had a sliver of hope with Rosie.
Her father lowered his head and offered his hand out to Louis. Slowly, Louis grasped it and the two men shook hands.
“I can’t lose both my daughters. I must learn to work with you, not against you.”
“That means a lot. It will take time to heal,” Rosie admitted. “But I hope we can.”
Speaking for the first time to them, Louis said, “Please do keep us updated on your illness and recovery. We will be thinking of you and wishing you the best.”
“Yes.” Rosie nodded. “And we will help if and when we can.”
It was important to include that, otherwise they might push every day.
Nodding, her parents walked away to join in with the party and give the couple a chance to talk to other guests. It felt good to get that off her chest. She felt free. Whether their relationship would be fixed was still to be seen, but at least this was a start.
Rosie was suddenly pulled into a hug. A dark-haired woman kissed her cheek, while a blond-haired man just laughed. Rosie had absolutely no idea who they were.
“Rosie, let me introduce you to my parents that have just decided to capture you, Christina and Elias,” Louis announced, gently extracting Rosie from his mother’s tight hug. “Mum, Dad, please let me introduce you to Rosie.”
“Oh, you are beautiful!” Christina gushed and squished Rosie’s cheeks.
Alarmed, Louis tried to intervene, but Rosie just chuckled. This was loving. Affectionate. Rosie was pleased they liked her.
“What did our boy do to get a catch like you?”
Rosie’s heart felt so full. This was so different to her own parents.
“Thank you.” Blushing, Rosie admitted, “And he chased after me when I was hurting proving I could be loved. I love him so much.”
Christina’s eyes welled a bit. “That hurt my boy, but anyone with sense could see you were in survival mode. I am so pleased you came back.”
Elias came forward and kissed Rosie’s cheek. “Thank you for loving our son. Ever since he met you, he’s been happier.”
Everything had gone so fast, she hadn’t even met his parents yet.
His cousins had been introduced first as they were who he spent the most time with.
It felt amazing to meet his parents and hear that they liked her even after her actions.
She would work hard to prove she truly loved their son and wanted to keep their trust
“I will do my best to make sure that never changes,” she assured them.
“That sounds perfect to me,” Elias responded.
Christina kissed her cheek again. “We must dash, I am sure that is my sister-in-law over there and I need to catch her before she sees me! You must come over for dinner soon so we can chat properly.”
Then they were gone.
“Do I need to ask?” Rosie murmured as she watched Christina grab another unsuspecting woman, making her jump.
“Mum and Aunty Helga have a love-hate relationship. They love to upset each other, but they will fight to the death to defend each other,” Louis responded.
“That sounds lovely.” Rosie was so looking forward to learning more about this family and being part of it. “And that is Vince’s mum?”
“Yep. Aunty Helga is married to Uncle Marvin. Dad and Uncle Marvin’s brother, my Uncle Pierce, was married to Aunty Greta. They were Emerald’s parents.”
The door went again, the little bell chimed to announce another arrival. This time, Emerald appeared. Rosie tap-danced, so excited to hug her future cousin.
Sister. Sister-in-law. Rosie had to remember that Louis called Emerald his sister.
“Sorry I am late!” Emerald grinned. Why did she look like she had been crying? “Had to find somewhere to park. I brought my big car like you asked so you could see the modifications.”
Rosie had asked Emerald to bring her new off-roading vehicle that had a brand-new winch. New tyres. New navigating system. Rosie wanted to see what she wanted in her car.
For a wedding present, Louis had offered to get Rosie a car, and they would go car shopping together. Emerald would kit it out. Vince would maintain it. She was so excited to go off-roading with them and get stuck in it. So, Louis could save her, or she could save him. That would be even more fun.
“Thank you!”
Dropping a kiss to her cheek, Emerald said, “Go check it out when you have time. I better go; you have more guests waiting.”
It was Spencer approaching.
With that, she walked off. Spencer smiled as he saw Emerald. This was the first time they would meet face to face. Rosie expected Emerald to be excited since they talked and bantered so much over the phone. However, she walked straight past him like he didn’t even exist instead.
He frowned. “Hey, you two. Know what that is about?”
Tilting his head in thought, Louis frowned. “No idea.”
Confused, Spencer sighed then patted Louis on the back before hugging Rosie. “I am so happy for you both. Can I get you drinks?”
“That would be great,” Louis answered.
Once again, they were alone. Louis managed to move them to a dark corner so they could hide for a little bit. Holding her cheek, he kissed her gently. And again. And again. She would never get enough of his kisses.
“I love you, Louis.”
“I love you, Rosemary.” He grinned. “And I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
That set a whole load of butterflies off in her stomach. She was going to marry this man.
I will be Rosemary Ledger. It has a lovely ring to it.
Pulling her into a hug, they embraced as they gazed over their guests.
Right at the back, they watched Hank and Emerald talking.
They were so cheerful while they laughed and shared a plate of chicken wings.
Not far from them, Vincent and Spencer were pouting, side by side. They were watching Hank and Emerald.
Rosie pointed it out to Louis, worried. “Something we need to watch?”
“Most likely, but I have no idea what it is about. I will wait for them to tell me.” He kissed her again. “Right now, my focus is you and I would love to dance.”
That sounded like a fabulous idea.
“Lead the way. Where you go, I go,” she stated.
Louis led her to the dancefloor, and the music changed to something romantic and slow. The room turned to watch, and they all whooped and clapped.
Joining the Ice Hounds so she could meet Louis was the best decision she had ever made.