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Epilogue
One year later - Rylie
The blue Hawaiiansky is dotted with small puffy white clouds. I can’t believe how easily dreams can come to be reality if you focus on what you want. With Ethan’s support, constantly uplifting my confidence, I got through the bar second shot. Now I’m working my dream job, on the beach with my turtles and dolphins most work days.
Like today - when I can hear the crashing of the waves against the cliff below the spot we chose, high above the endless Pacific for our special day.
Ipu music floats in the air, intertwined with the perfume of exotic flowers. I take my father’s arm as he walks me down weathered and worn travertine steps to a pathway through a pristine Japanese garden. A curving pond follows our path, and brightly colored orange, gold, and white koi swim under floating water lilies. In the distance, the light surf splashes on the shore mixed with the shouts of children playing.
I’m told that it’s good luck to hear the sounds of playful delight on your wedding day.
My father looks over the guests who’ve come to celebrate my special event with me and his face is bursting with pride and happiness.
My mother looks up and smiles. She and Charles realized that Ethan and I had such an unusually deep love, they agreed to give their blessing and support without any drama. I’ve never felt so cared for by my parents, who’ve shown over the last few days that they could put aside their differences and show me how much they loved me.
Past the rows of guests, stands Ethan with his best man, who barely stands as tall as his hip. Little Caden’s chest is swollen like a turkey with his own pride and he looks so cute dressed in a matching tuxedo. They both look like movie stars at the Oscars.
Ethan looks directly into my eyes, even from a distance, I can feel his love pierce through me.
Caden’s smile melts my heart. At his seventh birthday party, a few months past, he secretly told me that he wouldn’t mind—too much—if he had a baby brother. I laughed and said, “I’ll keep that in mind, but it might be a sister.”
He looked at me and thought about it a long while, “That will be okay, too. I guess.”
The ceremony continues like a fairy tale unfolding in a dream.
When the time arrives, I say, “I do.” I mean it more passionately than I’ve ever meant anything.
Then I get to savor Ethan’s lips on mine as my husband for always until the applause and cheering of our friends and family gently pull us back to the ground. We move gracefully, arm-in-arm, through the crowd and they shower us with compliments and blessings. Our day follows magically from one moment to the next with dancing, food, champagne, more dancing, pictures, cake cutting, and finally the announcement that we were headed to Maui for our honeymoon.
“Congratulations,” my father says. “Remember never to let her down. Or there will be consequences.”
“Thank you, Frank,” Ethan replies. “I’m grateful for your friendship.”
“It’s not Frank, anymore, son,” he says to my groom. “You’ll have to call me Dad or Sir!”
Everyone laughs, and Caden pulls on my sleeve. “Is it time?”
“Yes. Everyone, Caden would like to know what you’d all like to be called. Grandpa, Papa, Nan, Grammy, or something different?”
“We’ll figure it out over another piece of cake, Caden,” my mother says. “I think I like 'tutu' because that’s Hawaiian for grandma.”
I smile and take Ethan’s hand.
It’s good to be so loved by everyone around us.
