Epilogue
Nine months later
Sunset at the Palms
Negril, Jamaica
The sun had just begun its descent, and the sky was a fiery ensemble of red and orange. Beneath the rose-encrusted archway and with the gentle tropical breeze blowing all around them, Terrell and Leah took their vows.
Being surrounded by lush tropical gardens was so much more than Leah could’ve ever dreamed. She wore a strapless, diamond-white ballgown. The dress was just as her ten-year-old mind had planned, while her prince stood beside her garbed in all white as well. His gentle eyes caressed her with all the love and adoration he had for her. His glasses—still slipping down his nose—glistened in the fading Jamaican sun.
To her right was Nikki and Marsha, wearing ocean-blue colored trumpet/mermaid scoop neck dresses and tropical flowers tucked into their hair. To his right was Ms. Rosie wearing a cap sleeve lace gown in the same ocean blue as Nikki and Marsha and Mr. Donald who wore a white tuxedo almost like Terrell’s. The two of them still sported their newlywed glow.
“I knew the moment I bumped into you that you were the one for me. And while it’s been a rocky road getting to this place, I’m glad we journeyed it together. You needed somebody to love you and I needed somebody to love. As opposite as we may seem on the outside, our hearts now beat as one. Every breath I take is for you. You fill me so completely I don’t know where you begin and I end,” Terrell recited.
Leah valiantly fought back tears when it came her turn. “Terrell, I never presumed this would happen to me. I was resolved to being alone for the rest of my life. Then I met you and no matter how much I tried to keep the door to my heart closed, you kept right on knocking until finally I opened it and stood ready to receive all you had to offer me. I cannot begin to tell you how much you mean to me. All I can say is that I will love, honor and cherish you for all the days of my life.”
As his lips touched hers, the retreating sun kissed the rim of the turquoise sea shimmering around them. When his arms completely enfolded her, their kiss and the minister’s words joining them forever, the tropical breeze picked up slightly, swirling around them like an invisible cocoon.
Their guests clapped, the waves crashed against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, and they stared into each other’s eyes, no further words were needed, and none spoken.
