* * * * *
As I stood at the top of the aisle with our family surrounding us, my dad doing his best not to cry after giving me away, and staring into the eyes of my soul-mate, my heart threatened to burst from my ribcage and frolic in the meadows beyond.
I wasn’t just marrying the boy I’d be born for.
I was inheriting a farm that I’d always belonged to.
I was completing the life I was destined for.
The celebrant gave us lines to bind and promise us, and Jacob and I repeated them.
The little dog we’d called Arlo ran around our legs as we turned to face our family with hands joined and hearts united and souls stitched together for eternity.
The sun hung low and golden in the sky, and Cassie took photo after photo as Jacob and I signed the wedding certificate, then drifted toward the forest where Ren and Della were scattered.
I missed Della so much. I hoped Jacob was right that the dead had a choice to linger or leave, and Della had lingered to see this moment.
I wanted her to know I would forever look after her son. I would care for him, protect him, and be the best wife he could ever ask for.
A gentle breeze swirled in my wedding dress as Jacob gave me a smile blended of joy and sadness, then used his father’s Swiss Army knife to carve another set of initials into a tree that already carried his parents’.
J.W 4 H.W with a rudimentary heart sketched around the two.
Our names beneath Della and Ren’s.
Our love story mingled with theirs.
A true family.
Jacob put his knife away as the breeze kicked harder, tugging at my veil and ruffling Jacob’s hair. He pulled me into him, and we hugged beneath the tree that carried such memories and troths.
“I love you, Hope. For richer and for poorer.”
I clutched him closer. “And I love you, Jacob. In sickness and in health.”
He nudged my chin up, pressing his lips to mine in an endless kiss, and the breeze died down with the softest sigh.
He murmured into my mouth. “I’ll love you during life and well past death.”
“Forever.”
The world stood still.
We were at the epicentre of our happiness.
And as he pulled away, we linked hands, smiled, and walked side by side into our new beginning.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Jacob
* * * * * *
TWO YEARS LATER
CROSSING THE MEADOW that I’d crossed so many times before, I steeled myself for the task ahead.
I hadn’t entered my parents’ house since my mother died and I left Cherry River. I hadn’t visited when I returned. I hadn’t cleaned or sorted out their belongings in the two years that I’d been married to Hope.
But today, I had no choice.
Today, I crossed the meadow to do something that should’ve been done a long time ago: release ghosts from the rooms and air out the lonely house for new occupants.
Hope and I had been happy in my small cabin.
We’d worked hard, turned Cherry River into a fledgling orchard, and cultivated the ground to grant even bigger grass yields.
Hope continued to help Aunt Cassie with the horse rescues, and I’d learned to hide my fear. I had to trust if Hope got hurt…that was okay. I wouldn’t stop her from doing what she loved just because my mother had died dealing with such creatures.
I’d gotten better at accepting.
Arlo, the little dog that was my personal shadow, had helped with that.
He was just so happy, so utterly alive in each moment. No worry about what he would do that night or the next day. No stress over things he couldn’t change.
He was as good on my mental health as my therapist Dr Mont.
Pulling the key from my pocket, I sucked in a deep breath as I opened the door and stepped over the threshold.
Instantly, the familiar smell dragged me back through time to when I was a child and both my parents loved and laughed in this place.
I let memories surround me, I let highlight reels overwhelm me, and then I moved forward with my shoulders squared and heart sad but not bleeding.
Hope didn’t know my plan. I didn’t know if she’d like it or disagree.
But we’d been to the doctors this morning.
Our third check-up on our baby.
I flushed.
Our baby.
I would be a father soon.
And thanks to today, we knew what we were having.
A daughter.
A little girl who would ruin me for the rest of my days just as surely as her mother did.
Striding through the house, I bypassed my parents’ bedroom and entered my old one where Hope had stayed. Her scent blended with mine, and I smiled.
Perhaps this should be the nursery.
Move out the furniture, paint, renovate, and give the old house a new family to shelter.
Plans unravelled in my head, ideas of changing a few walls, and amending the property so it became ours instead of just my parents.