Epilogue - Ryan
After a nightof lots of sex, lots of ”I love you”s,” and breakfast in bed, I look over at Lily and know that what I am going to say now is going to change both of our lives.
“Lily,” I mutter.
“Yes,” she looks up at me.
“Hear me out. Don”t say anything until I”ve delivered my speech.”
She looks at me and giggles. “Am I a business deal now?”
“No, of course not, but I need to say what I am going to say, and then we can discuss.”
She nods her head.
“So, with me moving to LA, we can look for a bigger home. I love your place, but I want a place that we can call ours. You can rent your place out. But, I don”t want us to do it half-assed. I want to know that this is forever.” I get out of the bed, kneel on one knee, and take out a small box from my jacket, which is laid on the chair. “Will you marry me, Lily? I love you more than anything and want to start our life in LA, together. Married.”
She goes to open her mouth, but I hold my finger over her lips. I smile at her. “I haven”t finished yet.”
She laughs.
“How about we get married in Las Vegas. Today?” I look at her. “You can talk now.” I laugh nervously.
She opens her mouth and closes it a few times before she speaks. “Wow. That means in a period of twenty-four hours, I”ve gone from being in a relationship with an amazing man, being cheated on, meeting a man who wanted to take me somewhere private, being interrupted by my man, and then heard how what happened didn”t happen as I thought it had. And now you want to marry me?”
She starts laughing, and I don”t know if that is a good thing or not.
“Lily, are you okay? I”m getting cold down here.” I”m still on one knee.
She looks at me and puts her hand to her mouth. “You”re serious, aren”t you?”
“Yes, I am. I love you, Lily, and I don”t want to spend another day without you being my wife.”
“You know I”m a wedding planner, right? That”s what I do for a living. I”ve always dreamed of a big white wedding. And getting married in Las Vegas was not something I ever wanted to do.”
Fuck!
“But...”
I take a breath, waiting for her to continue.
“But, I”ve been to so many weddings and taken parts of my dreams and made them someone else’s.” She gets out of the bed and kneels on the floor in front of me. “Ask me again.”
I smile. “Lily, I love you and want to be with you forever. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man on this earth? The man that you will spend your life with. The man you can depend on no matter what situation you get into. The man who is looking forward to spending every day with you.”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
I slide the ring on her finger and kiss her, this time it”s not light and gentle, it”s hard and fast. I lift her up and swing her around. “Can we do it now? I don”t want to waste another minute without being your husband.” I kiss her again.
“I don”t have anything to wear.”
“No problem, there is a shop next door where we can get some clothes. Let”s do this.”***
Six hours later, we”re on the plane to LA. We”re married. We”ve had sex multiple times as a married couple, and we”ve invited everyone to Lily”s house tonight for dinner where we are going to tell them we got married in a drive-through chapel in Las Vegas, and Elvis was the man who married us. Corny, right? But it feels so right.
After landing, we go to Lily”s place and get ready for dinner. We”ve ordered food in because there”s not much time before everyone arrives. Jess and Rory are the first to arrive, followed by Alison with her date, Philip. We sit at the table, and Rory asks, “So, are you going to tell us what this is all about? I can see you found her in Vegas, and I”m assuming everything is good with you both.”
“Everything is fantastic. Yes, I found her. We talked.”
“Well, he did. He told me not to interrupt.” Everyone laughs.
“I explained what happened, and then we made up. But, hold up your glasses, I want to do a toast.”
Everyone holds their glass up, and I wink at Lily. “Here”s to best friends and my gorgeous wife.” It takes a couple of seconds for that to sink in before everyone in the room is talking.
“What do you mean, wife? Did you get engaged? Show us the ring,” Alison says, grabbing Lily”s hand. But what she sees is an engagement ring and a wedding ring.
Jess takes her hand too. “Oh my God, did you two really get married in Vegas? This is hilarious. I”m so happy for both of you.”
Rory shakes my hand, and then Philip does too. “Congratulations.”
“When you plan weddings for a living, you see so many plans go awry or problems, that it was the right thing for us to do. We are buying a property by the beach and can”t wait to start our married life together with our friends.” She smiles up at me, and I know that I made the right decision. I love her so much.
SIX MONTHS LATER
There”s a knock at the door, and Alison is standing there. She”s crying and wet, and I grab her to bring her inside.
“Lily,” I call into the house, “Alison”s here, but there”s something wrong with her.” I put my hand on her back and move her into the living room. I grab one of the blankets and wrap it around her. “What”s going on, Alison? Are you okay?” She doesn”t answer me; she just looks at the wall.
Lily comes down, sees the state of Alison, and rushes over to hug her. Since she”s been pregnant, her emotions are all over the place, so when I see tears rolling down her face, I”m not surprised. I walk into the kitchen to make coffee while listening to them talk. I need to know what”s happened so that I can help Alison. If she needs someone beaten up, I”ll gladly do it. If she wants someone dead, then I know someone who will gladly do that for her.
I bring them both coffee and sit on the couch next to Lily. “Alison, do you want me to go so that you can talk to Lily in private? I just need to know whose life I need to make hell when you”re ready to tell us.”
“Stay, Ryan. Please.” Her voice is quiet and meek. Nothing like the Alison that I have come to know over the last few months. Hell, it”s not even the woman whose office I stormed into six months ago.
“I went for a walk along the surf at the beach, and someone grabbed me and threw me into the sea. I know it sounds stupid, but my husband used to do that to me years ago.”
“Your husband? I didn”t know you were married. What about Philip?”
“Philip was just a short fling. About five years ago, my husband and I went out on our boat. We used to love sailing; the feel of the wind blowing on us and the warmth of the sun was the best thing ever. But this particular night, Jeff fell overboard, and I couldn”t find him. I couldn”t save him. I lost the love of my life that night.” Alison cries, and Lily hands her tissues.
“Hey, Alison, it”s okay. I know you still have nightmares, but what about what happened today? Did it bring back some memories of your time together?” Lily holds her hand.
“No, when I got out of the sea to give him a piece of my mind, he took my hand and walked me back up to the sidewalk. ”I”m sorry,” he said. ”I just had the urge to do that, and I”m not sure why.” But when I looked at him, I realized it was Jeff. My Jeff. My husband. And he didn”t know who I was.
I couldn”t stop staring at him. He looked at me and apologized again. He asked me if I wanted to go for a drink, but I said no as I was wet. He gave me his number, kissed me on the cheek, and I left in a stupor. I came straight here.”
“I”m glad you did, Alison. You can stay here tonight.”
“Thanks, Jeff is alive, Lily. All these years I thought he was dead, and all that time, he was living another life without me.”
“I”m assuming he lost his memory. You need to get in touch with him and find out what he”s doing now. He could be in a relationship or something.”