My wife. Our wife.
The woman who changed everything.
Epilogue
TANIA
One Year Anniversary
White roses line the aisle. Candlelight flickers across five hundred upturned faces as the doors open and music swells.
A vow renewal. That’s what the invitations said. One year of marriage, and the Locke brothers wanted to celebrate it properly. Nobody questioned it. People love any excuse for an extravagant party.
But the truth is, this is our real wedding. The first one never happened. There was no aisle, no dress, no vows. Just a contract and a handshake and a lie we all agreed to tell.
Tonight, we fix that.
Ben’s arm is steady beneath my hand, grounding me as we step forward.
At the end of the aisle, three men wait.
Silas is in the center, spine straight, face controlled, but his eyes gloss over when they find mine. Callum is to his right, tie already slightly crooked, grin softening into something reverent. Evan is to his left, hands clasped, mouth curved in that smile that always makes everything feel possible.
All three are in tuxedos. All three are watching me like I’m the only person breathing.
My knees almost buckle. Ben squeezes my hand.
We reach the altar, and Ben doesn’t immediately let go. Instead, he looks at all three of them, voice carrying to the front rows.
“Take care of her.”
“Always,” Silas promises.
Ben releases me. I move forward, and suddenly I’m between all three of them. Surrounded. Home.
The officiant begins, but I barely hear the words. My heart is pounding too loud, drowning out everything except the warmth of Silas’s hand finding mine, Callum’s shoulder pressed against my left side, Evan’s fingers threading through my right hand.
Then Silas is speaking, and the entire room falls silent.
“Before I reconnected with you, I thought I knew what my life would be. Duty. Obligation. Control.” His thumb strokes across my knuckles. “You showed me that wanting something freely doesn’t mean losing everything. It means gaining what actually matters. I’m standing here because you taught me that building something real is better than inheriting something hollow.”
My vision blurs.
Callum’s turn. His voice is rougher than usual, stripped of its usual cocky edge.
“I spent my whole life running. From rules. From expectations. From anything that felt like being caged.” His hand tightens on my waist. “You made me want to stop. You made staying feel like freedom.”
Evan’s fingers squeeze mine before he speaks.
“I’ve always been the easy one. The fun one. The one who keeps things light.” He pauses, swallowing hard. “But you saw past that. You wanted all of it—the easy parts and the hard parts. With you, I don’t have to perform. I just get to be.”
The officiant looks at me expectantly.
I take a shaky breath and meet each of their eyes in turn.
“I was raised to believe stability was something borrowed. That belonging was conditional. That security came from other people’s decisions, not my own.” My voice strengthens. “You three gave me something I’d never had—the ability to claim permanence. To build something that’s mine. That’sours.”
I squeeze their hands.
