She sighed again and lay her head on my shoulder. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but at least my best friend is as fucked up as I am.”
We burst out laughing.
Epilogue 1
Dina
One year later
“That wasn’t so bad,” Michael said.
I murmured words of approval even though I knew he was just being polite. We’d just had dinner with my mom and her fiancé, and it was just as awkward as our first dinner. Well, no…thatdinner involved a lot of yelling.
It was taking a long time for my mom to come around. I didn’t blame her, of course, but at least she’d stopped threatening to shoot Michael in the ass every time she saw him.
“Hey…” Michael saw my deflated mood and leaned over to kiss me gently. “She’ll get over it soon. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I just wish she could see how perfect we are for each other. I mean, you and Roman are okay now.”
“Hmm. I suppose.”
It was half true. He still gave Roman shit, but they were a lot better, and could even be in the same room for longer than thirty minutes without sniping at each other. Lucy was also pregnant with her first child, which went a long way toward softeningMichael. It was kinda weird to think I was going to be a step-grandma, but the whole situation was weird to people.
Michael and I planned on waiting a while before we started having kids. There was no rush; we were just enjoying being together.
We married quietly, just the two of us. The only silver lining was that my mom had been real upset when she found out—not that we had married—but that we had done so without her being present. That softened her a little towards the idea of us. She didn’t want to lose me, and since I came as a package deal with Michael, I could appreciate that shewastrying.
Our little town blew up over our relationship. The townsfolk were suspicious and ugly rumors flew around. My mom might’ve been privately mad at the whole situation, but publicly, she went to bat for us. They found the idea of us perverted and disgusting, so no amount of reassurance by us placated them—especially when they found out about Lucy and Roman, and then my mom and her fiancé. The nasty things they said to Michael…the rumors swirling about Roman, and the terrible insults my mom had to put up with…it was enough to make me never want to visit Koby Plains again.
Michael sold his house, and we moved to the city where no one knew us. I was in college studying accounting, and Michael had found a position at a private high school that paid well. I was working part-time at a local café to help out, even though Michael insisted he could support us. We were doing well and making a simple, quiet life for ourselves.
Of course, we came home to visit mom and Michael’s family—they were more accepting of everything—but we always left straightaway. There was no reason to linger where we weren’t wanted.
Sometimes I was sad that the hometown I’d thought I would come back and live in no longer felt safe, but then I remembered that home was wherever Michael was.
Lucy and Roman also lived near us, and we met up often. And now with a little one to unite us all further, our future only looked brighter.
“Ready to go home, my love?” My husband asked.
I smiled, my heart bursting with love. “Ready.”
Epilogue 2
Michael
“You have to support her head, Roman,” I growled.
“I’m rearranging her, dumb ass. I have kids of my own, ya know.”
“Yeah, and your wife wasmykid first, so I know more than you do.”
Roman sent me a scathing look before looking down at my daughter, Jasmine, and smiling. He reached out a finger, and my heartmayhave melted a little watching my daughter wrap her little hand around her… brother-in-law’s finger. I was still working on a title for him. I preferred “asshole,” but my daughter was too precious to hear swear words floating around. I’d just call him that in my head.
“I forget how tiny they are,” he said.
“It does go by fast.” I sat next to him, my attention focused on Jasmine’s perfect little cherub face. She looked exactly like Lucy, and if I stared at her too long, I’d get emotional thinking about it.
Roman sent me a sly look. “Luce said you got the snip.”
