“And y’all can play Candy Land again,” Carrie said.
The main activity of the party had been Carrie holding up giant Candy Land cards she’d made and the kids moving through the winding path to the castle bounce house as they played the game as living game pieces. Their favorite part was when someone got stuck in the foggy, mysterious Licorice Lagoon. Well, that and jumping in the bounce house.
Theo grinned but rubbed his eyes and yawned. “That’ll be fun.”
“And there’s even more. I’m not going home tonight. I’m going to stay here with you and Mommy,” I said.
Theo’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah, kiddo.” I ruffled his hair and stood up. “I’m staying.”
He smiled, and it might have been the biggest one we’d seen all day. Then the three of us walked inside holding hands with Theo in the middle.
And everything finally felt right in our little world.
THE END
Epilogue
One Year Later
Carrie
I walked down the sandy aisle the resort wedding planner had set up on the beach for us. There were tiki torches blazing, white hibiscus tied to the backs of the white folding chairs with teal satin ribbon, and a huge arch of flowers behind the minister the resort provided. Thatcher and I didn’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen. It was just us and Theo, who was the ring bearer.
Our close friends and family were in the chairs, ready to see us get married again.
Theo took his job very seriously. I’d laughed, joked, and talked all through the rehearsal the previous evening. He’d gotten upset with me for ‘acting silly,’ but Thatcher had finally convinced him I was just very, very happy. He was fine after that and had even let loose and danced down the aisle with me a few times.
Most of our friends had flown to the resort for the wedding and planned to stay for a few days. We were going to be here for two glorious weeks. One would be with Theo, and then my parents were taking him home with them so Thatcher and I would have a week to ourselves.
No one who caused problems had been allowed to come, so Thatcher’s mom had not been invited. The people we wanted with us were those that had loved and supported us, even through the difficult times. They’d been there to wipe away the tears, console us when we needed it, and remind us of what was important from time to time. The majority of the wedding guests were my friends and family first, but they’d all come to accept Thatcher as part of our everyday life once again. The only people Thatcher had wanted to be at the wedding were Bryce, Celia, a much more mature and happy Olive, and Lisa, his former executive assistant. He’d promoted her and begged her to come work in Indigo Falls when he’d given up the CEO position.
It hadn’t taken much convincing. She’d become director of executive administration at the rapidly expanding Indigo Falls branch of Caldwell Financial. She was now in charge of hiring and training executive assistants, as well as providing them with job support and performance evaluations. She was great at it. She was also a huge asset to the town of Indigo Falls. She’d joined a church as well as several committees and had been named chair of holiday events in town. My mommighthave been slightly jealous of what a good job she was doing.
I stood on one end of the aisle and smiled at Thatcher and Theo at the other end. They looked incredibly handsome in linen suits with teal ties. I wore a lacy white cocktail dress with a teal bow and a hibiscus in my hair. The music started. We’d chosen “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon. It was in no way traditional, but it just felt right.
As I walked down the aisle barefoot, the cool sand beneath my feet, I thought about the path Thatcher and I had taken to get to this moment. It had taken a long time for me to be able to bury our painful past and put it well and truly behind us. It had taken an equally long time for Thatch to convince me that we’d beenright all along… we did belong together. It had just taken a while to figure that out.
But as I looked at my ex-husband, who was soon to be my husband once again, a joyous smile broke out over my face. He was standing there with our son, and I knew there was no place else I was meant to be.
I took my next steps with my eyes firmly on Thatcher’s. I no longer had any doubts that he was my forever. I was able to walk towards my future with no regrets, no trepidation, and no concerns.
I truly loved him, and he truly loved me. And now we would be a perfect little family as I walked confidently towards the rest of our lives.
As I stood before the minister, I gave him a quick wink. He grinned back at me. I’d told him what I was going to be doing ahead of time, and he was delighted to be in on my secret. I turned to face Thatcher and Theo. I leaned forward to be sure they could both hear me.
“You know how we’re going to be a happy family of three?” I asked.
They both nodded, looking confused as to why I was talking about that right then.
“Well, I wanted the two of you to know first that we’re not going to be a family of three. For a second, Thatcher went pale, as if he thought I was ditching him at the altar. Theo just looked confused.
My smile must have helped because they both calmed down to listen to me. “We,” I said grabbing one of Thatcher’s hands in mine and one of Theo’s in the other, “are going to be a family of four.”
They gaped at me for a moment before Thatcher got tears in his eyes. “Are you serious?”
I nodded, unable to stop beaming from ear to ear.
