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“I know about your parents, my father told me. He found out days ago. He decided to turn himself in because he knew the blackmailer was dead and that he could come home. What your parents did was monstrous. But you didn’t do it. Unless you’re about to tell me you were in on their scheme?” She stops to look at me.
“No, of course not,” I say offended.
“I know this, but clearly you seem to think that somehow their crimes transfer to you.”
She drops to her knees in front of me. “You are the greatest love of my life. We met, and my soul said, ‘that’s him, Milly.’”
I reach out to grab her by the biceps and pull her up into my lap. She smiles at me as she sits.
“I’m not letting you go for anything, Dean. Not for anything. I can figure everything else in the world out, but I cannot figure out how to live without you.” She picks up my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. She kisses each one. “Please don’t, Dean, because you are me. I’ve just found my whole self again. And if you try to take away a piece of it, I won’t let it go easily.”
Relief courses through me like a river freed from the dam holding it back. My arms go around her.
“Red, you and Ant Man, you guys are my lighthouse. I couldn’t find my way without your light and without your love.”
I reach around her and unclasp the chain around her neck. I slip the little heart shaped pendant off to reach the promise ring I gave her. I clasp the chain back around her neck.
I reach for her right hand and slip the ring onto the third finger. The same finger I put it on fifteen years ago. And just as I did then I make her promises. But this time, I’m a man in charge of my own life, and I know that it will take an act of God for me to ever break any of the things I’ve just promised her with that ring.
And as Milly accepts my ring, I know I finally have someone willing to keep the promises they have made to me, too.
I don’t know where we are going, but I remember where we’ve come from. And I know that this love, this happiness is a choice. Our adventure, the grand experiment of blending a family, healing old wounds, loving without limitation, reservation, or condition, is just starting.
Epilogue
Coventry
January 1, 2016
Life is good. We are all in Coventry for Louis and Cara’s wedding. Cara is beautiful, and Louis is almost hysterical in his happiness. Everyone is happy.
And I’m here with my husband. He’s back with me, and we’ve moved home to Houston. We are getting our second chance at life and love, and we are taking full advantage of it.
The only fly in our ointment is that Dean’s mother is also back in Houston, and we’ve had to stop frequenting our favorite breakfast place because she's a waitress there.
The first time I saw her, I couldn’t keep my jaw from hitting the floor. This is a woman who hadn’t worked a day in her adult life, but I guess she had no choice.
The statute of limitations for blackmail is five years, so she couldn’t be prosecuted for her crimes. But the hacker who found her account in the first place also managed to take the money in the account and move it to my husband’s. Dean has cut her off, and without him to support her, she’s had to get a job.
I look at the sleeping child in my lap. Henry, Addie and Simon’s nephew, is one and a half now. He calls me Grandma, and I love it. He calls Omar, Pops, just like Anthony does.
I gaze out onto the dance floor where my five other heartbeats are dancing.
Milly and Dean are wrapped in each other’s arms, dancing slowly—even slower than the song “Amazing” by Luther Vandross requires. I love seeing them together. Every time Milly walks into the room, Dean’s eyes light up like he’s seeing her for the very first time. Like he can’t believe how beautiful she is. I'm so glad she finally has this.
Anthony is dancing with Louis’ mother, even though his head only reaches her middle. They have been dancing all night, as Louis’ dad sits and watches.
Lilly is dancing with her father, her head resting on his shoulder.
I look at Omar’s face and see his eyes are closed as his head rests on the top of Lilly’s. Lilly’s eyes, though, are wide open. She's staring across the room at Louis’ brother, Harry. He’s sitting, sullen at a table by himself. His jaw clenched so tightly, I am sure he is pulverizing h
is teeth.
When we arrived here for the wedding, they clearly recognized each other and for a few seconds looked elated to see one another. Then the elation, at least on Harry’s face, was replaced by an expression of horror. And they haven’t spoken again since.
Lilly refuses to divulge what’s going on. I haven’t pressed her, but only because I know that’s the worst way to get her to talk. I’ll get to the bottom of it soon.
Addie is dancing with Kyle, Simon’s brother, and they are laughing hysterically at something. They are clearly very close.
