Epilogue
Cleo
Eight Months Later
“Please tell me this is the last box of Chucks you have to unpack?!” Cleo pleaded as Ivy opened her third box of the sneakers and started to set them along the bottom shelf of her section of their walk-in wardrobe.
After Ivy had essentially moved in piece by piece over the past few months, they decided to make it official and ended Ivy’s lease on her apartment last week. Which meant that the rest of her belongings had been hauled over in the back of Cleo and Evan’s SUVs.
To celebrate the completed move, they were throwing a boardgame and pizza party later that night. The house was going to be loud, busy, and all of the important people in their lives were going to be there. Cleo couldn’t wait.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Miss Eight-Power-Suits-Isn't-Enough,” Ivy replied, pointing at the section where Cleo’s workwear hung. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you know I highly approve of the way you look in them, and I even acknowledge the fact they’re all different colors, but eight?!”
“Listen, we’ve been through this, you don’t bring up my suits, and I don’t bring up your flannel shirt collection.” Cleo said with a smirk and a pointed look over Ivy’s shoulder to the complete rainbow of checked shirts folded on the shelves behind her.
“Yeah, but eight?!” Ivy said under her breath.
“That’s it,” Cleo said, as she lunged forward and started tickling Ivy. “We said we wouldn’t bring them up,” she said between laugh-filled breaths, “but you brought this on yourself.”
Ivy squealed and laughed, trying desperately to catch Cleo’s hands, and eventually shouted for mercy.
They emptied the last box of Chucks, slit the tape at the folds and flattened it, ready to recycle.
They made their way downstairs and finished setting up before everyone was due to arrive.
Cleo placed the pizza order and scheduled the delivery for an hour’s time.
Ivy set-up music to play through the Bluetooth speakers that were dotted around their home.
It wasn’t long before people started arriving. First, Cleo’s parents, then Jade, Lana and Connor, shortly followed by Gabby and Lucas with baby Brody who Ivy immediately took out of Lucas’s arms.
“Are you looking at your future, love?” Cleo’s mom asked softly from beside her as Cleo stood watching Ivy rock Brody to sleep in her arms.
“I hope so, Mom,” Cleo replied dreamily.
A few minutes later, the door opened as Evan, Sophie, Toni and Willow all arrived. Together. Ivy looked over at Cleo, eyes wide and mouth open, then turned to see Evan take Toni’s jacket from her shoulders. “I knew it!” they both shouted and laughed as Evan and Toni blushed furiously.
Oliver was the last to arrive as he had been closing the shop that night. The pizzas arrived right behind him.
As they all tucked into the food, and every available space was taken over by either pizza boxes or board games, the volume of conversation grew louder.
Cleo saw Ivy’s glassy eyes from across the room. She made her way over and wrapped her arms around Ivy’s waist from behind. She rested her chin on Ivy’s shoulder as they both took in the room.
“You ok, my love?” Cleo asked, low enough for only Ivy to hear.
Ivy slid her hands over Cleo’s and tilted her head back to rest on Cleo’s shoulder. “More than ok, babe. So much more than ok. I can’t believe this is my life.” She let out a contented sigh. “It’s so much more than I could ever have dreamed of.”
“And we’re just getting started,” Cleo said, tilting her head to kiss Ivy’s cheek.
A loud roar interrupted their moment when Cleo’s dad nudged Evan as he was taking too long removing his block from the wooden tower of Timber, causing the whole thing to come crashing down.
“What did you do that for? I was winning,” Evan shouted at his dad. Toni sniggered beside them and Oliver whispered something in her ear, making her blush as she looked at Evan.
“By the look on her face son, you’ve already won,” Rob said, tipping his head over to Toni who was watching them.
“Let them be, Rob,” Fiona warned her husband with a look, but her face couldn’t help smiling. She turned towards Cleo and Ivy. “I think I’ve gathered all the empty pizza boxes, and I’ve stacked them with the moving boxes for recycling.”
“Aw thanks Fiona, you know you didn’t have to do that,” Ivy said, giving Cleo’s arms a gentle squeeze.
“That’s what moms do, love, you may just get used to it,” she smiled at Ivy and Cleo’s heart grew with love for the woman who had helped her heal Ivy’s heart about families over the past eight months.
“Speaking of boxes,” Cleo said, and she kissed Ivy’s cheek before unwrapping her arms from around her girlfriend who whimpered at the loss of Cleo’s body against hers.
She walked over to the counter where her phone was sitting, pressing pause on the music coming through the speakers. Ivy watched her, confusion across her face, and everyone else turned to see why the music had stopped.
Cleo moved slowly back toward Ivy, hand extended, reaching for hers. Somewhere to her right she heard Gabby, her mom, Lana, and Toni all gasp in unison. Ivy’s eyes didn’t leave Cleo’s, neither did her look of confusion. Until Cleo pulled out a small box from her jeans pocket.
The look on Ivy’s face instantly changed to one of uninhibited love as her eyes welled with tears and the hand that wasn’t holding Cleo’s was against her heart.
“Ivy,” Cleo started, “when I first met you, I hadn’t looked at another woman in over six years.
But then you crashed into my life, literally,” a low rumble of laughter rumbled around the room, “and you made me realize how much joy I had been missing. I used to think that loving someone took work, effort, and constant compromising. But Ivy, loving you has been as easy as breathing air. You accept me exactly as I am, you’ve never once tried to change my quirks. ” Cleo paused.
“Except from buying more power suits,” Ivy cut in, laughing through the happy tears already running down her cheeks as Jade and Evan shouted burn.
“Flannel addict,” Cleo retaliated with narrowed eyes and a smirk as she tugged the bottom of Ivy’s turquoise flannel, and she heard Lucas, Gabby, Oliver and Toni shout hear, hear in unison.
“Anyway,” she laughed then took a deep breath to settle her nerves back down.
“Every day that I get to start my day and end my day with you by my side, is the best way I can think to spend the rest of my life. You’re my heart, you’re my home, and you’re my safe place.
You’re the person I look forward to falling in love with a little more every day.
So please, Ivy, love of my life, will you make me the happiest woman in the world,” Cleo bent down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a platinum band with a single princess cut diamond causing Ivy to gasp and move her hand from her over her heart to her mouth, “and do me the greatest honor of letting me call you my wife?”
“Oh my God, yes!” Ivy said, barely a heartbeat after Cleo asked. She dropped to her knees and threw her arms around Cleo’s neck and pulled her in to kiss her over, and over, and over. The room erupted with cheers and laughter, and even a few comments of finally.
Ivy eventually pulled back to let them both stand, and for Cleo to slip the ring on her finger. “You’re wrong you know,” she whispered to Cleo as she lifted Ivy’s hand to her mouth and placed a kiss on her newly adorned finger.
“Oh? About what, my love?” Cleo asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You said making me your wife would make you happiest woman in the world,” Ivy placed her left hand on Cleo’s chest over her heart as she looked at her ring for a moment. She raised her eyes up to lock with Cleo’s, “but that title belongs to me the second I get to call myself Mrs. Ivy Foster.”