Epilogue
Jackson
“How are you feeling?”
My smile gets even wider. “So fucking good.”
Bennet looks me over and immediately starts laughing. “You look unhinged. Have you been drinking? Did Blaire sneak another flask in here while I was gone?”
“Nope. One hundred percent sober and clearheaded. I’m just really fucking excited for that woman to be my wife, man.”
And that's the simplest way I can explain it.
I'm not nervous. Everyone keeps asking me if I am, like I'm supposed to be pacing the room questioning every decision I've ever made while Bennet talks me down from climbing out a window. Instead, I've spent the last hour watching the clock and wishing everyone would hurry the fuck up.
Rose is somewhere on the other side of this place getting ready to marry me.
That's it. That's the only thought my brain seems capable of holding for longer than thirty seconds.
Rose is going to be my wife.
Every time I think about it, I start smiling again.
Bennet catches me and shakes his head. “There it is again.”
“What?”
“That fucking look. You've been doing it all morning.”
“I told you, I'm happy.”
“No, this is beyond happy. You look like somebody gave you the winning lottery numbers and told you to keep it a secret.”
I laugh and straighten my cuff, mostly because I need something to do with my hands. I've fucked with these things so many times I'm surprised they're still attached.
“Pretty sure I did win the lottery.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“What? You asked.”
“I didn't expect you to become this guy.”
I glance over at him. “What guy?”
“The guy who says shit like that with a straight face.”
“Fuck off. I'm getting married. I'm allowed one day of being insufferable.”
“One day?”
“Fine. I've been insufferable for a while.”
“Years.”
“Still marrying your sister.”
His expression shifts at that. The teasing doesn't disappear completely because this is Bennet and me, and I'm pretty sure one of us would break out in hives if we got sincere for longer than thirty seconds, but I know what today means to him too.
Rose is his big sister. She's spent most of her life taking care of him, worrying about him and sticking her nose in his business whether he wanted her to or not, and now he's standing here with me while she gets ready to walk down the aisle.
“I know,” he says eventually. “You're really fucking happy.”
“So fucking happy.”
He nods, looking down for a second before meeting my eyes again. “Good. She is too.”
That makes my eyes burn a little, and Bennet has the decency not to mention it. I spent too many years wondering whether Rose and I would ever get this right, and it turns out the answer was yes. It just took us an unreasonable amount of fucking time to get here.
I look toward the doors again even though I know damn well she isn't coming through them yet. “She better hurry up.”
Bennet laughs. “The ceremony starts in twenty minutes.”
“Exactly. I've already waited long enough.”
“You've waited years. You can survive twenty minutes.”
I look at him, and the bastard is grinning because he knows exactly how unhelpful that statement was. “That's not the comforting statement you think it is.”
His laugh fills the room, and I can't help joining him because he's right. I have waited a long fucking time for Rose. I can survive another twenty minutes.
I check my watch.
Nineteen.
Okay. That's better.