EPILOGUE
EMILY
one year later
The proposal happened at Christmas. Two rings, matching small diamond solitaires on delicate bands.
“Marry us. Be ours forever, not just here,” Heath said, tapping his chest, then Wyatt’s, and finally mine. “But in front of those who love us, too. Daniel and Rosie will come. Your family will, too. We can do it at the cabin.”
So now we’re back on Virgin Peak, exactly a year after we came together that first time.
The house is overflowing with people, and the wedding preparations are underway.
Legally, it’s a little more complicated, but Heath’s lawyers are on it. They’re going to draw up a trust and powers of attorney that ensure that no matter what, the three of us will be able to honor every vow we make today.
The love part is locked in forever.
In sickness and in health? Absolutely.
What’s mine is theirs and theirs is now, apparently, mine. And each other’s. Where other people draw up prenups to limit what one has access to, Heath’s pre-nup contract is utterly generous to both Wyatt and myself. He wants us to know without a shadow of doubt that we’ll always be taken care of.
I don’t like to think about that too much. Not when there are wildflowers to pick and a pretty white dress to slip on.
Rosie and I climb the trail behind the cabin in the morning to find enough flowers for bouquets and boutonnieres, and then I get dressed in my childhood room, which has now been converted to our room, in a pretty white sundress I found at a vintage store.
My parents weren’t sure of what to make of my fiancés, until they met them. By the end of the first dinner, Heath and Wyatt had won them over.
There’s a knock at the door. “Em?”
“Come on in, Mom.” I smooth the front of my dress.
She peeks in, then gives me a beaming smile as she closes the door behind her. In her hand is a faded velvet jewelry box. “I found this in storage. Your dad says it was his mother’s.”
My hands shake as I open it up. Inside is a pearl necklace. I hadn’t planned on wearing anything around my neck, but now… “They’re beautiful.”
“Your grandparents were very happy here,” she whispers. “We hope you will be, too, with your men.”
I blink furiously, then give in to the tears for a minute. They’re happy tears, after all. That’s allowed on a wedding day.
She grabs a tissue and dabs my cheeks, then hugs me fiercely. “We only want you to be happy.”
I squeeze her back and promise her that I am. So very happy, always.
After we touch up my makeup, we go outside and find my father. Together, my parents walk me around to the back of the cabin, where everyone is gathered—and my men wait.
There’s no aisle. No music. Just the wind in the trees and the birdsong overhead as our friends and family circle around us.
The officiant welcomes everyone, and reads a moving passage about lifelong commitment.
And then, after I pass Rosie my bouquet to hold, the three of us link hands.
“Heath, do you take Emily and Wyatt to be your forever partners?”
“I do.”
“Do you bind yourself to Emily as her husband, in every sense of the word?”
“I do.”