Epilogue
SPENCER
"To the first wedding in the Whitley family," Cade said, holding up his glass of champagne and toasting my brother Jake and his wife, Natalie.
"Hear, hear," I replied, raising mine too.
"But not the last," Grandmother added. "I'm so happy you two finally opened the wedding season. Congratulations, darlings." She first kissed Natalie's cheek and then Jake's.
"It was a beautiful ceremony," Penny said.
My brother and Natalie wanted a small ceremony here at his house in Martha's Vineyard. It was only my third time here, but I could understand why they both liked this place so much. It was very peaceful.
“This is the last one,” the photographer explained. He was still snapping pictures of Grandfather, Gabe, and Colton. The whole process had taken longer than it should have simply because Ben decided to be fussy.
“This gazebo is lovely,” Penny said.
“It was built especially for the occasion,” Natalie said. “We figured it would give us all the space we need, with the dance floor and everything. And we’ll use it tomorrow too, for your birthday.”
“Natalie, I can’t believe you’re thinking about my birthday on your wedding day,” I said.
“I still feel guilty that we got married this weekend.”
“For the millionth time, I don’t mind. Promise me you’ll enjoy the day without any guilt.”
She brought one hand to her forehead in a mock army salute. “Sir, yes, sir.”
I liked her sense of humor. There was a huge, long table for all of us. Natalie’s family was here too: her parents as well as her two sisters and their families.
It was a huge group. As we all sat down at the table, I kept Ben on my arm.
He was too fussy today, and I knew I couldn't put him down, or he’d become downright distressed.
Family events were overwhelming for him.
I didn't blame the little guy. Penny kissed his head like it was the most natural thing in the world. She was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to set a date for the wedding.
Naomi announced last month that she and Gregory were moving to Toronto, where he was from. She intended to visit Ben regularly, but I wasn’t holding my breath. My son had me and Penny, and we were going to take care of him.
I glanced around the table. If anyone had told me a few months ago that I’d have a beautiful woman on my arm at Jake’s wedding, I’d have informed them they were drunk.
Everyone was relaxed except Colton. I thought he'd warmed up to our half brothers, but today, he seemed as distant as always. He was sitting at the far end of the table and was making conversation with Gabe and no one else.
On second thought, maybe his behavior wasn’t related to our half brothers after all. He seemed to want to distance himself from everyone, which meant something was off. I was determined to ask him about it later, but right now, we were celebrating Jake and Natalie.
After the first dance, the DJ invited everyone onto the dance floor.
I turned to Penny. "May I have the first dance?"
"Sure," she said, sounding a bit shy. I turned to my other side, and Grandmother was already extending her arms. Now I knew why she'd wanted to sit there right beside me.
Grandmother took Ben in her arms, and Penny and I joined Jake and Natalie on the dance floor.
"Everything is gorgeous," Penny said, looking around.
"I have to say, it’s a pretty damn good day." The sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot. "Have you thought about what you’d like to have at our wedding?"
She grinned. "I've got about sixty scenarios in my mind. Natalie promised she’d be our planner."
Natalie was a very skilled event planner, and I knew we’d be in great hands with her.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I'm happy with whatever you want, Penny."
"Hmmm… that's not going to help narrow it down. But I'm sure we'll find exactly what works for us."
I kissed her forehead as Natalie’s family joined us on the dance floor.
"Who's going to be next?" Gabe asked from somewhere behind us.
He was dancing with Meredith. Cade had foregone a dance with his fiancée.
What was happening? I instinctively looked at the table.
He'd moved into the chair Gabe had vacated and was talking to Colton.
I instantly knew my hunch was right. Something was off with our oldest brother.
“Mind your own business, Gabe,” Meredith teased. “You’ll find out with everyone else. When you get the invitation.”
"Well… whoever is next… do us a favor and keep it a small, intimate party like this,” Leo said. He, Nick, and Maddox were dancing close to us.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because that leaves way fewer opportunities for our grandmother to invite daughters of her friends. She’s been threatening us with that. I mean… how many friends does she have who have daughters or granddaughters our age?" Nick replied.
"A lot," Maddox said from behind us. I noticed more people appearing on the dance floor as they changed from slow songs to newer, faster ones. "Trust me. She's not making them up. Ask me how I know."
"How do you know?" I was fascinated.
“I took her to a bridge game with her friends. She introduced me to the granddaughter of one of them. Nightmare, I tell you. I couldn't bolt fast enough,” Maddox said.
"You know what would be smart?" Leo said. "If we showed up with dates at future weddings.”
"Are you insane? That's just going to convince her that we actually need to be in a relationship," Gabe said.
"No, I don't think so," Nick replied. "But we can debate this later."
"May I cut in?" Leo asked, holding his hand out to Penny.
"Oh!" Penny said. "Why not?"
"Hey, he asked me," I said.
She rolled her eyes. "No, Neanderthal. That's just how you interpreted it."
"I wasn't asking you, brother," Leo clarified.
I moved out of the way. I was crazy possessive, and I owned up to it. Out of my half brothers, Leo was the closest to Penny. When she moved into the house, he'd helped her find renters for her condo, and then after the renters left, she decided to sell it, and he assisted again.
I liked knowing I could count on my half brothers as well as my brothers.
"By the way," Nick said, "I'm with Gabe on the small wedding.”
“Me too, just in case you need opinions," Maddox added.
“I don’t,” I assured him.
“It’s probably for the best. We are biased,” Nick admitted.
I laughed, then headed back to the table. It was as good a time as any to find out what was up with Colton.
Colton pressed his lips together when he noticed me. Cade was grinning from ear to ear.
"What's wrong?" I asked. But if Cade was in such a great mood, then it couldn't be anything dramatic.
"Nothing," Colton said. It was more of a grunt.
"Dude, don't ruin Jake's wedding with your brooding," I said.
Colton straightened up. Cade snapped his fingers.
"Damn, I didn't think about that argument. See, he's right. Besides, you don't have anything to really be brooding about."
"That's debatable," Colton said.
"I need to know what happened!"
"Our brother is getting a babysitter," Cade explained.
I blinked. "What?"
"Apparently, I’m not organized well enough. We need to partner up with a producer on a project, but he only wants to collaborate if I improve my communication skills. So, they recommended I work with an organizational expert,” Colton explained.
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
He pointed at Cade. “As our brother said, someone who will babysit me."
"Why?"
"Because everyone is up in arms about our brother's inability to answer emails or phone calls or meet with people—you know, basically being himself. So, they're bringing in an external consultant."
“I own the damn company, and yet I have to put up with shit like this.”
I shrugged. “You don’t live in a bubble, Colton. Sometimes we need to make compromises in order to collaborate with business partners.”
Cade took his phone, tapping the screen. "Let's see if we can find her, based on the name and company. Oh, that's her. Zoey Thomas. Damn, she's hot."
"That's not the point," Colton replied.
Cade tilted his head, turning the screen around to me. She definitely was attractive. "No, but it is a bonus,” Cade added.
"So, let me get this straight," I said. "You're all up in arms because someone’s gonna help you become more organized? Why is that a bad thing?"
"He's used to calling the shots, not being bossed around," Cade said. He was clearly enjoying this. Now that he pointed this out, I found it just as amusing.
"Right, so this is not an emergency,” I concluded.
"No," Colton said.
I pointed at him. "Then put on your party face and don't ruin our brother's wedding."
"Duly noted," Colton replied, and then I went back to sit at the table.
"Hey!" Penny said, coming up beside me and lowering herself into her seat, kissing my cheek.
I barely held back laughter. I knew for a fact that she'd been aiming for my neck.
She loved kissing my neck whenever I sat down.
But at the last second, she probably remembered we were in public and she couldn't do it, so she went for my cheek instead.
“Everyone is talking about how gorgeous the yard is, and I'm dying to see it," Penny said. “Want to show me around?”
"Sure," I said. I stood up from the table, glancing at Colton. "Are you okay, man?"
"Yeah, sure."
I rose from the chair, taking her hand and walking away from the group. "Interested in seeing the inside of the house too?"
"I already explored it this morning when I went to help Natalie with her dress. I thought we could take a walk in the yard. It's beautiful," she said.
"If you want, we can ask Leo to look at properties around here. We could buy a vacation home.”
She gasped. "Spencer! That’s not what I was aiming at."
I held out my hands. "I was just offering. If it makes you happy." There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn't do if it brought her happiness.
"Hey, have you checked your emails today?" she asked as we walked down a snaking path behind the house.
"No. I didn't have time."
"There's something in your inbox I think you're going to enjoy."
I frowned. Why would she know what's in my inbox? I took my phone out anyway, and I opened my email. I had an email from Juliet, one of the writers at The Digital Owl.
Juliet: Hey Spencer. As a surprise for you, the guys and I prepared something.
We had a lot of help from your family, facilitated of course by Penny, who is a great interrogator.
Let me know if you'd like us to publish this as the first of The Digital Owl's biographies.
If you'd rather keep it for yourself, that's also cool. We'll work on something else.
I clicked the attachment and froze. “The Life of Celine Whitley.” There was a picture of my mother next to the title. She looked just like I remembered her before things went south. Happy. Smiling. Radiant. I couldn't believe it.
I glanced up at Penny. "How did this happen?"
"I asked your family questions about your mom, and the guys and Juliet are really good at doing research."
"I want to read it right now."
"Do that. I don't think anyone is going to miss us. They're having fun."
I’d always been a fast reader, but I've never went through pages quite this quickly.
It was a truly great homage to my mom's life, to her career as a writer, mother, and even a wife.
They didn't mention the end of the marriage or the scandal my father caused.
It was an extraordinary article about an extraordinary woman.
This meant more to me than I could express with words.
"This is great. If it wasn’t Jake's wedding, I'd share it with the rest of the family right now. But it can wait one day."
"The plan was for them to send it tomorrow… as a birthday gift. But Juliet called this morning and said they were already finished, and well, I thought you would enjoy it, anyway."
"And I did." I pulled her close, kissing the corner of her mouth. “Thank you for doing this.”
She molded her body against mine, sighing. “I think we should get back. The others might start to wonder where we disappeared to.”
“But I haven't given you a tour of the yard."
"Oh, that was just a ruse. I wanted to get you to read the article."
I laughed, putting an arm around her shoulders as we walked back to the group. "Juliet is right. You truly are crafty."
"I am. Spending time with your grandmother is helping me develop that skill."
"This is the best birthday present ever," I replied.
I couldn't wait to share the article with my brothers.
I'd show it to Colton today—that would lift his mood for sure.
I couldn't believe he'd essentially have someone looking over his shoulder and telling him what to do for a change.
Then again, maybe it'd do him good. But one thing I knew for sure: this Zoey Thomas was in for a ride.
Penny and I went to the dance floor. She took Ben in her arms, kissing his head. I placed a hand on her waist as we started swaying to the rhythm, needing to be close to her. She was the one, and I was going to spend the rest of my life making her happy.