Epilogue
I stand on the beach, looking out at the waves, waiting for Isla.
My two best friends stand on either side of me.
We’re finally making it official. Well, unofficially official, I suppose.
I huff. “I still think it’s unfair that we all can’t officially marry her.” I turn to my best friends. “But I’m so happy we get to have this ceremony.”
Liam nods. “I would’ve had it on the day we got here if she’d been willing to.”
It’s been a little over eighteen months since we met the love of our life, and we couldn’t be happier. Cillian and I made full recoveries, and I’m a bit wider than I was when Isla and I first met, all muscle, but Isla seems to think it looks good on me.
My shoulders are broader, chest bigger. Still not as wide as Liam or Cillian, but at this point, that has to be genetics.
My surgery is a distant memory other than the jagged scar on my side.
Cillian smiles. “I just want to call her ours and let the world know who she belongs to and that we belong to her.”
Both Liam and I smile and nod.
Colleen stands on the other side of the makeshift altar, made of orchids, Isla’s favorite flowers. She flew in just to be maid of honor, and she’s currently holding our son, Ryan, who turned seven months old just yesterday.
He babbles and gurgles and rests against her shoulder, always the sweetest baby.
Irene sits in the pews with Isla’s mother. Isla had insisted on going back for her, and we’d all understood. We placed Irene with a nice Irish family in the countryside and fly her out to visit every few months.
She wears a lovely blue dress today, looking younger than her seventeen years with a bright smile at Ryan on her face. She plays peekaboo with him.
Liam adjusts his tie. “Has Isla seen her mother yet?”
I pat him on the back. “Not yet, but don’t worry. She’ll love that you managed to fly her in.”
I have no idea what kind of strings Liam pulled to do it, but I’m sure Isla will be over the moon.
This can’t be an official wedding, since our kind of union is not legal, so we asked Felipe, an Italian we befriended shortly after arriving in Italy, to officiate. He’s well-versed in Catholicism, and since we’re all Catholic, it’s just what we need.
My eyes are on my friends when Isla comes into view. I know because Liam’s face has a wide smile on and tears in his eyes as he keeps his eyes glued to the end of the aisle. He’s not the stuck-up billionaire boss he once was.
Cillian has tears streaming down his face, and he doesn’t even attempt to wipe them away. Gregarious and happy-go-lucky now, Cillian is a different man, too.
I guess we all are.
I turn my eyes to her, and everything else disappears.
She is walking down the aisle, looking unbelievable in an off-the-shoulder white dress with a long train, a slit up the side, showing off those long legs.
We have all come a long way from that night at the gala.
Isla changed us.
Ryan changed us even more.
We’d all thought we were happy before he came into our lives, but now?
Now every time I make him laugh, my heart swells so much I think it might burst.
I had just thought I loved Isla above all else, but this sweet little boy has become the center of my universe.
And it’s funny to watch the way Liam grins when Ryan grabs his finger, or how Cillian hums Irish ditties when he gets up with him at night to let Isla sleep.
Isla’s already been wearing our ring—a magnificent alexandrite stone that changes color from deep green to light green to blue depending on the light— which represents the way our love grows stronger when we are together, how we are stronger together.
Surrounding it are three gems, each a perfect echo us: an emerald to represent me, a sapphire to represent Liam, and a mint tourmaline to represent Cill.
And tonight, she’ll get the band to go with it. And we will each get our counterparts, chosen for us by our girl.
I can’t wait to see what she came up with.
And then, she is here, standing in front of all of us, looking at each of us.
“You’ve prepared your own vows?" Felipe asks, knowing damn well we did, and I grin at him.
“I'm going first."
The small crowd, just a few of our closest friends and relatives, titters.
Cillian chuckles, and Liam rolls his eyes, but I ignore them both, taking both of Isla’s hands in mine.
“You were mine the instant I laid eyes on you, aye?” It's something I say to her often, and she smiles. "And I was yours maybe before that. Maybe before we ever met, fate made me ache for you, made me work for you, but in the end, fate gave me to you. I love you, Isla. With all of me.”
Isla’s lip trembles as she looks up at me, and she sniffles, squeezing my hands before I drop them and step back.
Cillian and Liam look at each other smiling.
Cillian steps forward, and Isla turns to him, and I feel the same stirrings of jealousy I always do. It’s just easier to push down now, easier to deal with. It’s part of us, just like everything else.
Cillian lets the tears fall as he looks into her eyes. "You taught me something important. You taught me that you’re not what the world makes you. That you choose your own path. And I choose you. My light. My heart. My home. And I’ll keep on choosing you until the day God takes me away.”
It’s simple and sweet, just like Cillian these days, and Isla chokes out a sob, leaning up to kiss his cheek before pulling away.
Cillian wipes at his eyes as he steps back, and Liam wastes no time taking her hands in his.
“Mo chroí,” he starts, and then, surprising even me, he chokes up, lowering his eyes for a moment, a couple of tears hitting the floor at his feet.
Isla rubs along his forearms, sobbing openly herself.
I inwardly chuckle.
She can’t blame it on the hormones now.
“I couldn’t stand you when I first met you,” he says finally, his words raspy, and the crowd laughs uproariously.
Liam chuckles through his tears and then continues.
“But what I really couldn’t stand wasn’t you, not really.
It was the way you made me feel. I was numb until I met you.
Numb to the world, numb to life. Then you show up, half a pint and ready to sass.
You challenged me in ways I’ve never been challenged.
You made me fall in love with you. Gave me a family.
A purpose. Happiness. And I’ll never not be grateful. "
Isla wipes prettily at her eyes and pulls away, looking at all of us. She steps back so she can speak to all three of us.
“Eighteen months ago, I went to a gala looking for a story. That was the beginning of a journey that brought us all here, and, even with all the ups and downs, all the pain and loss and hurt, I wouldn’t change a thing because it brought us here to this moment.”
She smiles. “Liam, your sharp wit and cunning attitude keep us all in check. Cillian, your sweet nature keeps us all humble. And Dare? Without your charm, where would we be? I could never choose, I would never choose because losing even one of you would mean missing out. I need all of you. This. Family. My family. You are all I need. Forever. I love you all more than words can say. You gave me Italy. And more importantly, you gave me Ryan. And I love you all so much I could die.”
“Don't do that!" Colleen calls. “Not before the wedding night!"
Everyone laughs.
It’s time to give her our ring.
Three bands of precious metal spiraled together.
A rose gold band—playful, seductive, alive with possibility.
My choice—a platinum band cut through the design with authoritative strength—bold, protective, uncompromising in its dedication.
Liam’s choice—and a yellow gold band flowing between them—dependable as sunrise, constant as the tides. Cillian’s choice.
I’m happy we went with that instead of a ring each, otherwise we would always be butting heads to be the ones represented on her ring finger.
I’ve still got a jealous streak a mile wide.
We all do. And there are fights about it, but these days, they rarely come to blows. We don’t need the added extra reason.
She reaches for me first, taking my left hand in hers and sliding a warm yellow gold band on my ring finger. I can’t stop looking at it.
Set into the metal, a constellation of small hazel-toned diamonds—champagne- and cognac-colored stones that shift from hazel to green depending on the light, just like her eyes when she laughs at my jokes. And between the diamonds are tiny emeralds. My eye color.
I choke. “I love it. Thank you.”
Then she turns to Cillian, sliding his ring on his finger.
Brushed white gold with a single, perfectly matched hazel diamond sitting flush with the band's surface, surrounded by a barely visible setting of pale green tourmaline chips. Cillian’s eye color.
She really put thought into it, making each band unique to each of us.
His tears roll down his face as he just kisses her forehead.
And then it’s Liam’s turn.
On his finger, she slides a platinum band with subtle geometric edges and a stunning color-changing garnet that mirrors her hazel eyes, shifting from golden brown to deep forest green as the light hits from multiple angles. The garnet is flanked by small sapphires that echo his own eyes.
He can’t take his eyes off it until she steps back, and then his eyes are glued to her.
“I now pronounce you men and wife. You may all kiss the bride,” Felipe says.
Isla leans in to kiss me first, making my heart race as she sticks her tongue in my mouth. I have to focus to keep from getting an erection in front of God and everybody.
I tell myself not to watch her kiss my best friends, but we’re all family now, and jealousy is something Isla’s always willing to deal with in the bedroom.
She leans up on her tiptoes to kiss Cillian, and he grabs the back of her head, making it more passionate.
I would have never thought of him as the type to like public displays, but in Italy, with Ryan and Isla, he’s a different man.
Then Liam, almost chaste, and he looks down at her like she’s the only person in the world, like the two of them are in some bubble the rest of us can’t understand.
Sure, I’m still jealous, but it feels good, too, seeing them happy.
Cillian and Liam deserve happiness too. We all do.
It doesn’t get any better than this.