Epilogue: Edwina
I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Yep, that was definitely me. With professional hair and makeup, and a dress that was worth a few thousand pounds, I looked hot. It wasn't even my first time in a wedding dress, but I looked great. I turned around slowly to face Missy.
“So?” I asked her. She had tears in her eyes. “Oh, don't you start.”
She sniffed. “I'm sorry, it's just that you look so beautiful. You look amazing, really.”
“You saw me in my last wedding dress too, you know.”
“I did, but that marriage was to an awful man who didn't love you and treated you like trash throughout your marriage. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't count. Besides, Niall sprung more money for the dress so it’s nicer.”
I laughed. Missy was the biggest detractor of my first marriage to Russell. She hadn't trusted him from the start, and she was right not to. All of that seemed so far in the past now wearing a wedding dress again. To be honest, I didn't know whether I would ever get to walk down the aisle again. When I said my vows, I meant them, but then death did part me and Russell. Even after his death, I wasn't sure that I even wanted to remarry, let alone date. Right after Russell died, I wasn't looking for anyone. Niall quite literally bowled me over with his reappearance. Seriously, I didn’t stand a chance against him with our history.
The dress was objectively nicer than the first wedding dress that I wore. It was off white, you know because white is for virgins. It had a sweetheart neckline, a cinched waist, and a billowy, flowy skirt. With the train and the veil, I looked like something out of a fairy tale. We were at the estate. We had both decided that that was where we wanted to get married, no-frills. It was either here or a destination wedding. The idea was to have the smallest group possible in attendance.
In the past three months, the estate had gone through a complete overhaul. The grounds were back to their former glory, even better. The house itself had been going through renovations and we were making additions to it as well. The ceremony was taking place outside, near the house, and the reception in one of the house's new editions, which we hadn't finished yet. When it was done, it was going to be a spacious family room. For today, it was a reception hall.
“Where's my bouquet?” I asked. Missy picked the bouquet of white and yellow flowers off the bed and handed it to me. She was one out of my two bridesmaids. Niall had two groomsmen, one of whom was Riley. We were doing it small, on purpose. Nobody who didn't deserve to be there was going to show up. This was a total one-eighty from my last wedding which was full of people I both knew and didn't know, but didn't care about me. This time, it was only our closest friends, both of our families having been left off the guest list.
It was for the best. Neither of our families had come around when we told them that we were making wedding plans. Niall's family, very much in tune with their usual behavior refused to acknowledge his decision. They were pretending that if they didn't acknowledge it, it stopped existing. I was estranged from my family after everything that happened with Russell. They were interested in the marriage and wanted to come especially since Niall was a man of an even higher title than Russell had. Of course, that meant they weren't invited. As far as I was concerned, they were not reaping the benefits that they thought they would because of my marriage to Niall. The only reason they were so happy about it was because Niall was rich.
The money was nice, I would never pretend that it wasn't. Because of the money, I had one less thing to worry about. All of Russell's old debts were paid and the estate had stopped looking like an abandoned wasteland. I was eternally grateful but now I had the marriage and family life that I never had with Russell. Niall was kind and engaged and he loved Riley and me with his whole heart. During my first marriage, I thought I was getting my fairytale ending but it turned into a nightmare. This time, I was finally getting my happily ever after. I turned around one more time so I could see myself in the dress with a bouquet. That moment, the door opened and Brenna walked inside. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me.
“Oh, oh my God, you look amazing,” she said coming up and hugging me. Brenna, Niall’s cousin's wife didn't come around to the UK as much as I needed her to. We hit it off the first time that we met and we had stayed in touch through the period
s that she and Charlie were back in New York. Speaking of New York, the past few months had been the longest time that Niall had spent in the UK since he had moved to New York all those years ago. We had been back and forth a few times since he still had a home and his belongings there, but for the most part, we had lived here on the estate when it wasn't undergoing renovation. I was excited for Brenna to meet Missy and just as I predicted, they got along like a house on fire.
“They're ready for you.”
“Perfect,” I said. “You guys head down, and I'll be out in ten minutes. Both of the women hugged me before leaving. I was walking down the aisle alone, for obvious reasons. I laughed. From the outside looking in, our wedding looked a little bit sad. It was like two orphans getting married. Neither Niall or I had our families there, but that wasn't necessarily true. I would have Missy and Prue there, the closest people to me. Our son would be there and Charlie who Niall regarded as a brother would be there too. Those people were our family. They had treated us more like family than our actual relatives had, and I wouldn't get married any other way.
When it was time, I went downstairs and walked outside. Behind the house, we had set up our little alter and seating area. The aisle wasn't very long since there weren’t that many people in attendance. Everyone important was there though. The music began as I approached the aisle, two wedding players on harps that we hired for the ceremony. Down the other end of the aisle was Niall in his slate gray suit. I tried not to look at him because I knew I would start crying. I walked down the aisle and stood in front of him.
“You're beautiful,” he whispered to me. The ceremony was short. It was my second wedding so I had done all this song and dance before. I didn't feel like I was missing out by having a simple ceremony now. Thankfully, Niall was uninterested in all the pomp and circumstance and all he wanted was for me to be happy. The one thing I absolutely refused to skimp on was the vows.
Niall went first. “Eddy, I'm not going to stand here and tell these people how we met because admittedly, it was under slightly unsavory circumstances. That was the day that planted the seed though, because after that day I never stopped thinking about you. I couldn't believe my luck when I met you again a few months ago in London. I knew then that it wasn't luck, it was something else. It was something greater, something bigger that said you and I were meant to be standing here today. This was the woman I was supposed to be with, and this was the family I was supposed to build. I don't know what led me here, but I'm so happy that it did Eddy. I'm going to spend the rest of my life by your side making you happy.”
Tears ran down my face and I didn't bother wiping them away. This was the wedding that I deserved the first time around. No, I was glad that I got married to Russell the first time if it meant I could finally come to Niall. I cleared my throat.
“Niall, the fact that the two of us are standing here today means our love was too big to be overcome by any of the many, many things that stood against us. I'm so in love with you and I'm so happy that we are going to have a family together. I want to stand by your side and see it through to the very end. Being with you is what is going to make this journey worthwhile.”
We had kissed countless times before, but this time was different. To the applause of our friends and family around us, we kissed for the first time as husband and wife. I heard a couple whoops from the crowd and flushed. They all knew what the two of us would be up to later, but it was still a little embarrassing. Embarrassing, but in a good way. I had just said yes to Niall for the rest of my life, and that was the best decision I had ever made.
The guests went inside before we did. Niall, Riley and I were going to pose for some pictures before joining them for the party. Over near the pond we had decided to build a gazebo where we ended up taking a number of the wedding pictures. The estate lived up to its name now. No longer was it derelict and running out of money. Now it was a place I was happy to live in. Happy to raise my family in.
By the time we were done, Niall had Riley dozing in his arms as we walked to the house to join the reception.
“Poor thing, he’s tuckered out,” I said, ruffling Riley’s hair.
“That might be a good thing,” Niall said. “I’m jealous, actually.”
“Don’t you want to join the party?” I asked.
“I just got married. I’d rather get an early start on my wedding night,” he said with a wink. I laughed. The two of us had a child together, there were no illusions about our wedding night. It would be the first time that we had sex as a married couple though. I looked at Riley asleep in his dad’s arms.
Maybe one more? We hadn’t really talked about it because let’s face it, Niall had only been a father for the last three months. I didn’t think it was time yet. I wanted to give Riley a sibling though. We handed him off to Prue to take upstairs as we joined the reception. Everyone was sitting at tables strewn around the room. My first wedding had a huge, wasteful buffet that I barely even ate from after going to each table to say hi to all the guests, most of whom I didn’t know. After a quick circuit around the room, we sat at our table with the bride and groom party to eat.
Right on cue, Charlie stood up and whistled loudly so everyone kept quiet.