She gives me a squeeze. “Nothing…”
It’s on…
She’s crazy. And I’m crazy because I believe her.
I plant a kiss in her hair. “With you in my corner, I feel like I can do anything…”
You know how they say that everything happens for a reason? Well, I thought that the whole reason I got injured, came back to Crescent Harbor and ended up staying with Iris was to make a comeback on the football field and prove to all my haters that I’m stronger than they ever could have imagined.
But now, I’m tempted to believe something else entirely.
I believe that the whole sequence of events happened to guide me back to this gorgeous woman, so we could heal each other, mind, body and soul. All this time, I’ve needed her just as badly as she’s needed me. Everything else was a bonus. It just took me a whole long while to realize that.
Again, Iris glances at all the beautiful flowers blooming around us. “I would have been happy with just a regular bouquet, y’know.”
“But you’re not a regular girl,” I tell her. “Why settle for a bouquet when I want to give you the whole damn world?”
Epilogue Iris
21 months later…
“Nothing looks right!” I groan, poking my head through the changing room curtains to where my friends are sitting patiently in the waiting area.
“Come on. Let’s see it,” Faith demands, wiggling her bum on the shoulder of Jessa’s armchair. “Remember, I’m a pro at this. I’ve re-married my husband four times now. If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s pick a wedding dress.”
The entire group giggles and the unease in my stomach untangles just a little.
I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around this. It’s so crazy. The wedding is only weeks away. Jude and I will be saying our vows in the greenhouse—our greenhouse—surrounded by our closest family and friends.
I never imagined walking down the aisle again. Especially not this soon, but when Jude dropped to one knee at his family’s Christmas dinner and popped the question, I realized that marrying him is exactly what I want.
That doesn’t make gown shopping any easier, though.
Feeling pretty defeated, I step out of the changing room for my friends’ assessment. There’s a little sting in my chest at their un-thrilled expressions.
Lily rises from her seat to circle around the platform where I’m standing. She tilts her head to the side as she examines the ivory-toned mermaid gown. “It’s pretty but it’s not quite…you.”
Jessa nods in agreement. “I say you should go with a princess style.”
“Of course you do.” Lexi rolls her eyes with a grin. “A short sheath dress would look great on you.”
“I think a bohemian gown is what you’re looking for,” Faith offers but that doesn’t feel right to me.
My shoulders slump in defeat. “I’m about to give up, guys. I don’t think there’s one single dress in here for me.” At this point, I just want to go home and sink into my fiancé’s arms and let him make it all better. With his penis.
That man’s penis can make anything better. All of life’s disappointments, all of my insecurities, any of my worries. Nothing matters when Jude Kingston is making love to me. Right now, I just want to go to him.
But Jude has some business of his own that he’s dealing with today.
My man is on his way home after his first away-game of the football season.
Yes, Jude is back with the Paragons. Against all logic, against all likely outcomes, he’s back on the field and his team kicked Pittsburg’s butt last night.
Don’t ask me how it happened. Not even the doctors can explain how he did it. The sports commentators are calling it a miracle. The internet claims Jude is a bionic man with alien DNA who was part of a government experiment gone wrong.
The rumors floating around are crazy.
But according to Jude, his recovery is all due to the power of our love. I think that theory is my favorite.
Sometimes the doctors don’t have the answers. Sometimes the hospitals don’t have a clue. Sometimes love is the only hope for healing.
All I know is that my man has beat the odds. Again. And fuck the haters. There’s not one thing he can’t do.
After his second knee injury, when the doctors were all doom and gloom, Jude gave up, he accepted that he’d never play again. But I didn’t.
Although recovering from a repeat ACL injury is rare, a handful of footballers have done it in the past. And if anybody could recover from that kind of knee trauma—twice—it would be Jude, with his stubborn determination and his freakish Kingston genetics. What he needed most was my support. So, this time around, we worked even harder on his recovery than the first time. The outcome is my man back on the field.
I take a quick peek at my cellphone. I’m waiting excitedly for the minute he’ll be back home.
Jessa shoves another armful of dresses at me. Penny sifts through the racks of options I’ve already rejected. My mother drapes me in a sympathetic hug. They’re all making a big fuss. The girls sling encouragement my way, prodding me to keep going.
And I find myself smiling…
Not too long ago, I was lonely. I was a broke divorcée, trying to figure out the next phase of my life. But now, all that has changed. I have the best friends a girl can ask for, three sisters who claim me as one of their own, a mother who adores me and a soon-to-be mother-in-law who can’t wait till it’s all official.
And the best part…the very best part, I know that my man would marry me even if I showed up at the ceremony in a potato sack.
…Let’s just hope it doesn’t have to come to that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Diana whisper something into Lexi’s ear. My best friend’s eyes light up at whatever my future mother-in-law
