Epilogue
15 months later...
10 minutes before Rose and Gray’s wedding...
Rose stared out the back windows of Gray’s beautiful home and smiled at their guests, who couldn’t see her because of the privacy tinting on the windows. It made her heart soar to see all of her and Gray’s friends and family gathered under the huge oak trees in the backyard. They’d strung lights from tree to tree and over the two long tables where their guests sat.
They’d invited everyone for dinner over the Labor Day weekend.
Fifteen months had passed since Maggie’s wedding week that had resulted in Rose’s reconciliation with her mom and sister, Maggie’s breakup with Marc and second chance with Joel, and, of course, Rose meeting and falling in love with Gray.
Rose visited her mom a couple of times a month down in Carmel. They’d reconnected and were closer than they’d ever been. And of course her mom loved Gray, who almost always went with her for those visits.
In the beginning, Poppy spent most weekends at Rose’s apartment. They’d become the best friends they used to be. Poppy enrolled in college and moved in with Rose, though Rose spent more time at Gray’s house than the apartment, which made Poppy happy, too, because she’d met a really great guy and they were almost as inseparable as Rose and Gray. Without the weight of the guilt she’d carried about their father’s death, Poppy flourished. She was making straight A’s and worked part-time in the finance department at Huff Tech with Rose and Gray.
Rose loved working there, too. The offer Jay made was something she couldn’t pass up. The money was great. The job challenged her. But best of all, she got to see Gray even more. They never hid their relationship and no one seemed to think twice about her dating the CFO of the company because she proved herself to be an invaluable asset and finally got the recognition and rewards for her hard work. The company went public and her stock shares paid off big-time.
Maggie and Joel sat at the table next to the two empty chairs Rose and Gray had excused themselves from minutes ago. They were kissing. As always. All of them had stuck to their Thursday night double dates all this time, even if Thursday night turned into a Tuesday or Friday once in a while.
Maggie and Joel had eloped nine months after getting back together. Their parents, along with Rose and Gray, went with them for the elegant private ceremony, where Maggie walked down the aisle glowing and happier than Rose had ever seen her. Until Maggie revealed a couple of months later that theywere pregnant. Her best friend was going to be a mom. Finally. All her dreams had come true. And Joel seemed completely at ease and excited about their little bundle on the way.
But someone else beat Maggie to parenthood.
Rose found Marc at the opposite table sitting beside his little girl sound asleep in her mom’s arms. Marc hadn’t wasted any time finding someone to console him after he blew up his life with Maggie. He brought Aimee to the first family dinner she and Gray attended with his family. She thought he tried a little too hard to show that he’d moved on and had someone special in his life. The tension between all of them had been nearly unbearable, but they maintained the peace, mostly because she and Gray simply ignored him as often as possible. Two months after the canceled wedding, he announced Aimee was pregnant with his child. Five months in he found out he was having a little girl and something changed. He treated Aimee with an affection and kindness she’d never seen him show anyone else. The hostility between Marc and his father evaporated. Marc even pulled Gray aside at one of the dinners and apologized for being an asshole to him over the years. Then, in front of everyone, he apologized to Rose. Only then did Gray ease into being friends with him again.
They were family after all.
Now Marc treated her with respect. And though he and Aimee hadn’t tied the knot yet, they would someday, because there was no doubt in Rose’s mind that Marc had finally found what he was looking for, a woman he wanted to make happy more than anything because he loved her and his child.
“I can’t believe you finished getting ready before me.” Gray stood just inside the living room in a black tux, the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
He stayed true to his word from that very first double date at The Surf. They hadn’t spent a night apart. Not even when he had an overnight business trip. He asked her to go with him. Since she could code in a hotel room just as well as she could at her office, she went, because she didn’t like being without him, either.
She stepped away from the window and twirled in her white gown.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
She held up the full skirt and showed off the sparkling high heels.
“Love the shoes, sweetheart.”
She laughed because he’d teased her about her obsession with finding the perfect pair to go with her dress. Turned out the perfect pair had been in her closet the whole time: the pair Maggie gave her when they tried on their dresses that week in Carmel.
She and Gray didn’t want a big wedding. Just their closest friends and family. But she wanted the dress, the shoes, the cake the caterer would bring out soon, the flowers decorating the tables and garden, and most of all Gray.
She didn’t have someone to walk her down the aisle.
She wanted the only man who’d ever loved her unconditionally to be by her side.
They didn’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen.
They wanted to stand in front of the ones they loved and make their vows to each other.
“Do you think anyone suspects anything?”
She’d never get tired of Gray’s smile. “I’m pretty sure they think you and I snuck away for a quickie before dessert.”
She laughed, and her cheeks heated with the blush that rose from her chest to her cheeks. “Probably.”