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Epilogue

Six Months Later…

A cool sea breeze drifts in through the open sliding glass door and I smile, turning back to the full length mirror and running my hands down the gauzy fabric of the dress. It’s a simple design but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I know it’ll make Lincoln lose his mind with the deep V and the open back. My hair is curled and pinned back as Ali secures little white flowers with bobby pins. Her belly bumps me and I laugh.

“Watch where you’re swingin’ that thing.”

She growls. “Don’t start with me, woman. It’s hot as hell, my toes look like sausages, and this baby won’t stop kicking my bladder.”

“Well, sit down,” I instruct, gently walking backward toward the bed as she holds a piece of my hair. As I sit on the edge of the bed, she sits behind me and sighs as she gets back to work.

“You look stunning, Tate. If he weren’t already barefoot, you’d knock Kodiak’s socks off.”

I catch sight of the scars on my arm and collarbone and sigh. Maybe I should have gotten a dress with sleeves. “I hope so.”

She follows my gaze and pokes the back of my head with a bobby pin. “Knock it off. You’re gorgeous and Kodiak is one lucky bastard.”

“Ow,” I mumble, rubbing my head. Physically, I healed from Devlin’s attack fairly quickly but the emotional side of it still haunts me daily. Of course I don’t know what I’d do without Lincoln. He wakes up each morning and the first thing he does is kiss every scar on my body, telling me how beautiful I am. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t even want to imagine where I would be.

After I was released from the hospital, Lincoln took me home and promptly moved in. Neither one of us was willing to be away from the other after we almost lost it all and I still needed a lot of help as I healed. Rodriguez came by a few days after we were settled in and delivered the news that they’d found Devlin’s body on the edge of town. They also found journals detailing all his plans at his house so as far as the police department was concerned, the case was all wrapped up with a tidy little bow. I thought I would find some peace in knowing who killed my mother but I don’t. Instead, I’m still haunted by the type of man my father is but I suspect that’s something I’ll have to learn to live with.

“Knock, knock,” someone says and I smile as Theo opens the door and pokes his head in. When he sees me on the bed, he sucks in a breath and a wide smile stretches across his face. “You’re beautiful, T.”

“Thanks, little brother.”

He growls. “The only reason you’re going to get away with that is because it’s your wedding day.”

“Uh, Tate?” I glance across the room as Carly ducks in through the sliding glass door. “I don’t want to alarm you but there are some dark clouds rolling in.”

“I’m done, you can get up,” Ali says, patting my shoulder. I stand and make my way across the room, pulling the sheer white curtain back to peek outside. She’s right. Dark, ominous clouds are rolling in toward the beach and I can’t help but smile. For some reason I can’t explain, it feels like Mom is with us here, which is the whole reason Lincoln and I decided to get married in Grand Isle where everything started for us.

“It’s perfect,” I whisper.

“Well, perfect or not, unless you want to get rained on, we should do this now.”

I nod, turning back to her. “You and Ali head down to the beach and get the guys ready, okay?”

Carly nods as she flashes me a smile. “I’m on it. Come on, preggo.”

“When I finally catch you, I’m smacking you for that comment,” Ali growls, struggling to climb off the bed. Theo rushes over and helps her up. “Thank you.”

The girls leave and Theo throws his arm around my shoulder, smiling down at me. “Ready to do this?”

“More than ready,” I answer with a nod.

“Me, too. After today, you won’t be my problem anymore.”

I roll my eyes and give him a little shove. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Teddy.”

“I told you to never call me that again,” he gasps and I laugh as I take one last look in the mirror, tucking one of the little white flowers behind my ear. When it came to the wedding, Ali kind of took over and I was happy to let her since I don’t know the first thing about planning a wedding. Honestly, if it had been up to me, Lincoln and I would have been at the courthouse months ago but now that we’re here, I’m glad she convinced me to let her plan things.

“Let’s go get me married,” I say, turning to Theo and he holds his arm out, allowing me to hook mine through it as he turns toward the sliding glass door. Speechless by Dan + Shay begins playing and I smile as Theo pulls the curtain back and we step out. All the guys, Rodriguez, Carly, Ali, Nix, Emma, and Mia are lined up on either side of our makeshift aisle and they all turn toward me but my gaze is solely focused on the man waiting for me by the water.

His smile lights up his face and his gaze never leaves mine as I slowly close the distance between us, my heart pounding and tears welling up in my eyes. A part of me can’t believe this is real – like maybe this is all just a dream and I’ll wake up any moment with only a figment of this happiness lingering in my heart. He bites his lip as his gaze drops down my body and warmth floods my system as my pulse spikes.

God, how did I ever get this lucky?

“You’re stunning,” Lincoln whispers after Theo passes my hand to him and a blush creeps up my cheeks. “I love you.”