Epilogue
A lot can happen in a year.
Hearts change, lives change, careers change.
Paige spent winter break the following year teaching in Arusha, working with Salma, concentrating on educating teachers who wanted to reach the girls in the communities that didn’t have access to the larger, better funded schools.
While she spent January teaching teachers, Jack was in Arusha as well, finishing a course with his Princeton grad students, this being Jack’s final year at Princeton. In the Fall, he’d put the word out he was looking for a position in California and immediately the job offers poured in—Stanford, USC, UC Berkley, UC San Diego, and San Diego State, among a half dozen others. In the end, he took the offer from UC Irvine because he respected their environmental science program and it was the school closest to Paige and Orange.
They were going to look for a home together in May, after Jack permanently moved to California. They wanted something near the water, but were open to the foothills, too, possibly property with orange trees overlooking the mission in San Juan Capistrano.
Paige had been able to go on two trips with Jack in the past year: one to his native Australia, and the other to Buenos Aires and then down to Patagonia. It was in Buenos Aires that he proposed again, just in case she’d changed her mind about marriage, or at least, marrying him.
She had.
Oh, she had.
And now they were marrying today, a ceremony organized by their friends Jabari and Nyah Mkapa, because as Jabari said, he knew everyone. And he did.
The wedding was going to be on the other side of the pool beneath the dappled shade of a sculptural acacia tree. Paige had bought a new dress before her trip to Arusha. It was the palest blue, elegant, pretty, with long dramatic sleeves, the lovely fabric fitted but not clingy. Jack looked dashing—impossibly handsome—in a black suit with a crisp white shirt, open at the collar, setting off his face and tan. He’d shaved for the wedding and looked every inch a movie star.
She felt like they were in Paris again, and it was just the two of them. She felt hopeful, joyful, content. They’d decided not to invite their children, or other family members, for the wedding. The wedding would be a surprise, but that was okay, and the ceremony, brief as it would be, was about them, and their vows. They were marrying for good days and bad, knowing full well they weren’t ever going to be young again, but in no hurry to be old, either. Age was just a state of the mind, and they were both too happy together to be afraid. Life was short. Time was precious. They’d grown.
Paige only had eyes for Jack as the minister pronounced them husband and wife, but as they turned to smile at their friends, she saw in her mind’s eye their children, for they were never far from her thoughts.
In August, Michelle had married her boyfriend, Garrett, at a lovely winery in Woodinville. Paige had been there, holding in her concerns, proud of her beautiful, brave daughter who loved so deeply and couldn’t wait to be a mom.
Nichole had had another promotion. She and her boyfriend, Andreas, had broken up again. It was too hard on him to see her advancing so quickly.
Ashley had a place of her own in LA and was auditioning, taking acting classes, and waitressing to make ends meet. When Oliver was in town, they’d get together for a drink.
Oliver was always kind, always encouraging, remarkable considering he’d just earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Paige was sure it would be the first of many.
And soon she’d return to California, back to work.
Paige’s eyes watered as she looked at her person, her Jack. One more semester apart before they’d be together forever. Spring semester was just ten days away. He’d return to Princeton and she to Orange County, but first, the honeymoon.
The Mkapas and the Kanumbas saw them to the car that would take them to the airport, and then they were flying back to the River Camp in the Selous Game Reserve where Shani had booked them the honeymoon suite for the next week.
As they checked in and signed the paperwork, Paige wrote her name, and then she shyly crossed it out, writing Dr. Paige King instead.
She studied the new signature. Dr. Paige King. She loved the way it looked, loved the way it sounded. Glancing up at Jack, she smiled, her heart full.
Fairy tales did come true.