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"I do, Reese. And I promise I'll do it for the rest of our lives."
I beamed, looking at the tree, then at the globe.
"Where are you going to put it?" he asked me.
"I'm thinking right here, in the center. That way you can see it from almost everywhere in the room. What do you think?"
"You're the decorating boss."
I nodded, smiling. "That's right."
I hung the globe, then took a step back "Well, I think this is it. This is the place for it." Turning to the rest of my decorations, I tapped my chin, considering my options. "Now, let's see. Let's go on with the golden ones." I spoke more to myself than to him, but he moved the ladder in the direction I pointed.
I had a flash of us doing this together with two, maybe even three little ones, and I smiled at the image as I went up a few steps on the ladder. I could see our future crystal clear, and I couldn't wait to experience it alongside this amazing man.
First Epilogue
Reese
"Darling, you look so beautiful," Gran exclaimed.
"Thank you." Both she and Aunt Lena stood behind me. Lena was messing a bit with my veil under the pretext that she was arranging it under my hairdo. I suspected that she was simply busying herself to hide tears.
"Aunt Lena," I asked softly, "are you okay?"
She looked up at me, her eyes glassy. "Of course. I'm just emotional."
"Oh, Lena. Don't make the poor girl cry," Gran chastised, but her own voice was a bit unsteady.
"Why don't we all have a good cry now?" Kimberly suggested. She’d finished fastening her shoes and stood up. "That way we don't run the risk of randomly bursting into tears later. And by 'we,' I actually mean myself."
I turned around, looking at all three of them. "You know, you can cry all you want to. There's no reason to hold back. We all have waterproof makeup on." I was babbling. I was beyond nervous and full of emotions.
I turned around to glance in the mirror. My dress was amazing. The bridal collection was labeled Fairy-Tale Wedding, and I truly felt like I was in a story. The dress had short sleeves, and the detail in the lace was absolutely stunning. The same pattern crisscrossed all over the bodice.
The lower part of the dress had a different pattern, but it was just as breathtaking. It was interchangeable too: this one was tight around my body, but once the party started, I’d put on a wider skirt. It made me look like a princess, and it had the added benefit of allowing me enough space to dance. The veil was long, with a pattern of lace too.
"Aunt Reese, Aunt Reese. I'm here," Paisley said, and I heard footsteps outside the bedroom.
When Dom and I started planning the wedding, we both knew we wanted something small with just our friends and family. We both loved the lake house so much that we decided to do it here. Since the yard was huge, the wedding planner had no problem at all setting up a beautiful tent. Holding the party on our private property was also the easiest way to keep the press from butting in.
The fallout from that magazine article followed Dom for months. Reporters relentlessly pestered his PR team for a response, but they’d completely ignored it.
They’d written quite a few articles about the wedding, but both Dom and I were learning to embrace that. We hadn’t heard from Malcolm in months, though I heard that Francesca had indeed divorced him and was going after him for every penny.
Paisley burst in, glancing at me. "Oh, Aunt Reese, you’re definitely the most beautiful bride in the family." Then she pressed her lips together, widening her eyes in horror. "You were pretty, too, Gran."
Gran laughed. "Oh, I don't mind, Paisley. And I quite agree. Reese is the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen." She gave me a quick hug, and then Lena and Kimberly joined her too.
My dad and his wife had arrived this morning. They’d left my sister back in London with her maternal grandparents. She’d come for Gran’s wedding, but transatlantic flights and jet lag were hard on kids.
I’d invited my stepmother to help me dress, not wanting her to feel left out, but she insisted that it was quite all right if she just waited downstairs with everyone else. Kimberly, Lexi, Kendra, Liz, Megan, and Avery had fussed around me all morning.
"Are you ready to go downstairs?" Paisley asked.
I nodded. "Yes. Gran, Aunt Lena, you go first. Paisley and I will follow."
"Just like we practiced," Lena said.
