Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
Jenson and I haven’t gotten officially engaged yet, not because we’re delaying but because I keep changing my mind about the details. I tell him I don’t want a fancy wedding or a lot of hoopla. But he thinks we need to do something official. He thinks it’s important for us.
“Jenson’s completely right about that,” Hayley says when she and I meet for lunch at Bernie’s. “Don’t just go to the courthouse like Max and I did and forgo all tradition.” She holds up her left hand, and I smile at the Native American ring on her left finger, a beautiful ring that’s perfect for Hayley but looks nothing like a traditional wedding band. “It’s different for you and Jenson.”
“Why?” I say. “I don’t care about those things, either, like big white, poofy dresses and old traditions people try to drag with them into the present.”
“I know,” she says. “But it’s important for you guys to have a public ceremony to mark you officially becoming husband and wife. After all you’ve been through having to hide your love from your relatives, it makes sense.”
“I guess so,” I say. “I don’t know if Matilda, Patsy, and Cybil would even show up at our wedding. They don’t know what to do with us now that they can’t put us in a box. Some of the townspeople have been so supportive and excited about our romance, but others—well, let’s just say it wasn’t all warm and fuzzy.”
“Oh, you know the naysayers,” Hayley says. “They won’t be able to stay away. Talking about your wedding will keep them busy till they die.”
“That long? Matilda’s only sixty or so.”
“Olive, they could talk for over thirty years about yours and Jenson’s love story,” Hayley says. “That’s part of what makes it great! Embrace it, for God’s sake. Do something good with all the angst you two went through. Gossipers love to talk about forbidden love. It sounds so tantalizing.”
“It does?”
“It’s like the romance they wish they all had,” she continues. “Full of passion and danger. You both risked everything that means anything to you in order to be together. They should be so lucky, and they know it too.” Hayley looks at me confidently. “Deep inside, you know they know it.”
I try to change the subject. “Jenson’s birth father said that whenever we decide to tie the knot, he’s going to come to our wedding. He already told Jenson he’d be there.”
When Jenson told Donald he was his father, I have to say I was impressed by the man’s response. He didn’t miss a beat—sure, his face turned ghostly white, and he looked tempted to dash through the nearest exit, but he didn’t. He stayed. He shook Jenson’s hand and said he wanted to get to know his son.
And he’s held firm to that promise. He and Jenson meet once a week for coffee. Sometimes Donald comes to Liberty Falls, and sometimes Jenson goes to Philadelphia. I’ve met with them a couple of times, and Donald’s been really excited about our relationship.
And Dad? Well, his campaign for re-election, now heavily focused on the themes of forgiveness and family, is taking off. No attention is bad attention, as they say, and my father is a heavy favorite this fall to win. The healing has felt complete.
Hayley takes a sip of her soda. “Now what about Dee?”
Well, the healing has feltalmostcomplete.
“Donald and Dee aren’t on speaking terms yet, and I’m not sure Dee will ever forgive Donald for his betrayal. In terms of Jenson, once Dee and Cindy officially separated, he warmed up toward Jenson, but it’s not all the way back yet.” I shrug. “Maybe it never will be. Jenson wants it to be good between them again, but he’s relieved that at least he doesn’t feel like he’s living a lie with Dee. Cindy says she was trying so hard to keep everything smooth that she never allowed herself to realize she wasn’t happy. She says she was ashamed to admit the truth. She’s happier now, actually. She really is.” I smile at Hayley and stand up. “Anyway, I should get back to work. I’m so excited to be able to use my bonus from the deal I closed in Manhattan toward the down payment on whatever house Jenson and I decide to buy.”
“I think it’s awesome you decided to start fresh,” she says. “A new beginning for both of you to finally have something to call your own.”
* * *
Jenson
I grin as Olivia steps out of the bank with a wide smile on her face. It’s the same smile she’s had for the last six weeks. I’m sure it matches the dopey grin I wake up with every morning and go to sleep with at night. After what the two of us went through, working our way back to each other, any obstacle life throws at us right now feels easy to navigate. Because we’re finally able to be a united front and steer through any issues together.
“Hey!” I pick her up off the ground and swing her around.
She buries her face in my neck. “Hi, yourself.”
I don’t put her down like she no doubt assumes I will. Instead, I carry her down the sidewalk and then lift her into my truck.
“Where are we going?” She laughs as I jog around to the driver’s side and turn the key in the ignition.
“Kyle and Connor are with Meghan, and Bernie’s with my mom. So it’s just you and me, babe.”
I turn my gaze on her, and her gorgeous blue eyes light up. Olivia Graham’s beauty still gives me chills. Being alone with her turns me on just as much as it did when we were being illicit. We still find ways to surprise each other, to make out in public places where no one can find us, and to be naughty when nobody has a clue.
Today, I take her to the town lake. “Nobody ever goes to the back side,” she says even though she’s said it a dozen times before.
