Epilogue

Veronica

Old Preston house—I could never get used to how garish this place was. Couldn’t believe I grew up here and thought it was normal. Even living in Kelcey’s apartment for the past year, it wasn’t like it was a modest place, but it was more… tasteful than this big-ass wannabe manor with an entire department store’s worth of Christmas decorations on it and around it. I parked the car, and Kelcey stopped the music, stretching her arms out.

“God, I haven’t been here in a million years,” she said. She turned to me, eyes shining in that way where I still couldn’t figure out how she was doing it, like she could light up the world. I’d spent the past two years dating her trying to figure it out, and I hadn’t made any headway.

Of course, the new rings we had on our fingers told me I had some time still to work on solving that particular mystery some more.

“Did you miss it?” Kelcey said, and I snorted.

“Miss this place? With Grandma’s music blaring loud enough to kill a deaf horse, and Miss Charlotte telling me how uncouth and unbearable I am? I miss Milan already.”

She leaned across the center console, resting her head on my shoulder, murmuring a soft laugh. “It was an amazing trip… with the best souvenirs ever.”

“Oh, yeah?” I said lightly. “I knew you liked those boots, but I didn’t realize they ranked as best souvenirs ever. ”

“Oh my god, you dumbass, I meant the engagement rings,” she laughed. “And you know I did! I accuse you of… of… tomfoolery.”

“I categorically deny the allegations. Say, Kelce?”

“Yeah?”

I shut off the car, turning to look at her. “How exactly do you suppose we should announce this? Because if it’s left up to me, I’d just walk in with the rings on our fingers and go about business as usual and see who’s the first to point it out, but you might want something nicer than that.”

She chewed her lip, casting her eyes up to the ceiling thinking it over. “Maybe I should have thought about this beforehand… we could have gotten a big we’re engaged banner and walked in the door with it.”

“I would… rather not do that. Mom would make the banner her most cherished possession and force us to fly it everywhere at the wedding…”

“Maybe we could stage a proposal there and pretend we’re only just now getting engaged.”

I laughed, hanging my head. “Okay, maybe not that either.”

“Really?”

I paused. “Actually, that sounds great,” I said, slipping my ring off. “Damn, Kelce. You’re not bad at this. Lucky me getting to marry you.”

She gave me the smuggest smile anyone had ever given, but hell, she’d earned it. “Anna and Lucy are probably going to know we’re just putting it on and that, you know, we wouldn’t go to Milan and then wait until we were back here to propose, but your parents will totally buy it.”

“I can’t tell if I’ve corrupted you or if you were always this bad. Let’s go, gorgeous.”

We both hid our rings in each other’s pockets, and I pulled my coat tight around me and wrapped up in a scarf and hat and gloves and earmuffs, ignoring my beautiful fiancée’s very unfair commentary about how it was like ten steps to the front door, and I braved the bitter cold with my head down, trudging through the thin layer of snow on the ground and getting up to where I banged on the door.

“Open up, I’m going to freeze!”

The door swung open, and of course it was Mom there in the doorway—it had opened so quickly I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d just been standing there waiting for me to show up. “Anna! Oh, god, you’re back, you were gone for so long!”

“Long enough you forgot my name. Oh my god, I’ll hug you in a second, let me inside before my nose freezes off.”

“Oh, Kelcey, darling,” Mom said, giving Kelcey a hug first as she stepped into the house behind me. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you again. How was Spain?”

“Um…” Kelcey scratched her head, and I spoke.

“Spain was beautiful, yeah, really enjoyed Lisbon. Now, where’s the eggnog?”

Mom chuckled. “Oh, you’re still every bit just like your father. Matthew and Miss Charlotte are on eggnog duty right now in the kitchen.”

“Oh… Miss Charlotte, huh,” I said. Maybe eggnog could be a later thing.

“Veronica, Kelcey,” a voice said, coming excitedly into the room—Chelsea Gould, my fiancée’s and sister’s firm’s client’s wife and my parents’ girlfriend, which was a hell of a way to describe someone. She beamed at us, putting a hand on Mom’s back. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you two again. How was Spain?”

My parents and the Goulds had all been to Europe. How did nobody in this household have any geography knowledge? “Yeah, Spain was great, we really enjoyed Geneva,” I said, and Mom frowned.

“I thought you were in Lisbon.”

Kelcey sidled up next to my side, slipping her hand into mine. “I mean, you know, all the trains running around in… Spain… we had to go visit all the other hotspots.”

Chelsea absolutely glowed. “That’s so wonderful. A whole magical vacation all around Spain…”

Mom nodded quickly, eager to get to the good part. “Sounds like a pretty serious move to do together,” she said. “You two must be, uh… pretty serious, huh?” She winked.

Kelcey and I nodded in unison, both on the exact same page. “Very serious,” she said, right as I said, “Yeah, serious work trip, all kinds of serious work.”

Mom faltered. “Ah, well…”

Chelsea huffed. “Oh, my goodness, you two, Maria was asking if you’re getting married anytime soon.”

Kelcey and I shrugged, looking at each other. “Ah, maybe,” I said.

“Yeah?” she said. “You think we should get married?”

“Huh. Doesn’t sound half-bad,” I said, mostly just to enjoy the sight out of the corner of my eye of Mom just about having a stroke. Kelcey giggled.

“Maybe I’ll just drop down on one knee right now. Do you think I should, Mrs. Preston?”

“Oh—well—” Mom was inventing new colors of red to turn in sheer excitement and nerves. “I mean—well—you two are so wonderful, it’s just—of course,” she said, and I shrugged at Kelcey.

“Well, I’m going to get out of all these layers—I don’t think an engagement ring would fit on my hand over this glove—and maybe we can see where the night goes. I could really go for that eggnog.”

Kelcey was doing a terrible job suppressing the giggles as we got away from Mom and Chelsea, going the long way around to the kitchen and avoiding where a whole loud crowd squeezed into the living room. “She’s going to have a heart attack wondering if we meant that,” she said, nudging her shoulder against mine.

“She’ll be fine. It’s a youngest daughter’s solemn duty to give her parents heart attacks. She’s got her girlfriend to make things better anyway.”

“My girlfriend’s better.” She lit up, pausing at the swing door into the kitchen. “Oh my god, even better than that. You’re my fiancée. I keep automatically referring to you in my head as my girlfriend and then I have a whole moment where I realize, like oh my god. ”

I raised an eyebrow. “You do remember you’re the one who proposed.”

“I know. But I still can’t get my head around it! Ugh, lucky me.”

She was so cute I genuinely didn’t know what to do with it sometimes. Hard to believe I of all people managed to get her to want to marry me. I’d spend the rest of my life trying to figure out how that happened.

Still, the situation got more complicated when we pushed through the swing door and nearly straight into Lucy, leaning back against a column with her arms folded, smiling drily at us, and she said, “Welcome back, you two… I hear you enjoyed Lisbon, Spain. The plane into Milan missed and you landed in a territorial dispute?”

“Much simpler…” I said, shrugging helplessly. “Mom and Chelsea have no grasp on geography.”

Lucy smiled wider. “Kelcey was the one to pop the question? Seriously? That’s cute.”

Kelcey huffed. “Oh my god, don’t listen in on private conversations creeping through doors, Boss Lucy. That’s literally so weird.” She paused. “But yeah, I did. I mean, hello, look at her. I’ve gotta lock that down.”

Lucy laughed, pushing away from the column. “Absolutely. My second favorite of the Preston sisters. Congratulations, you two,” she said. “So, is there a reason you were telling Maria that you might consider getting engaged tonight?”

I shushed her. “We figured it would be funny to pretend we’re only finally popping the question here. We both have rings, so… we’ll both propose to each other. Mostly because I want to see Miss Charlotte’s reaction. She’s going to be appalled.”

Lucy hung her head. “Only you, Veronica.”

Kelcey puffed her chest out. “It was actually my suggestion…”

“Oh, god, Kelce, she’s ruining you,” Lucy said lightly. I waved her off.

“And I’d thought at one point that you were cool, Luce. Now you’ve fallen to the ranking of my second least-favorite Masters.”

“Even counting my father and brother you offered to kill?”

“Ah, nah, they’re already dead in my mind. Don’t worry, I’ve been keeping an eye out for anybody who looks like a homophobic man version of you. My talented and intelligent fiancée would absolutely help me hide a body.”

Kelcey beamed at me. “If it was Boss Lucy’s terrible family? I’ll bring the acid bath.”

Lucy laughed, shaking her head. “Ah… you two are going to do great. Look at you, Vern. A high-flying career in fashion taking you all the way to Milan and a loving wife ready to help you dispose of a body. You’ve really got it made.”

“She’s not my wife yet. But if you and Anna keep playing the long-engagement game, we might beat you to it.”

“I’m sure that would be an absolutely devastating blow for me and Anna and definitely something we actively care about.”

“Yeah, I believe it. Now, c’mon, Kelce, let’s get that eggnog and go gaslight Matthew and Miss Charlotte.”

Dad had shown up in the kitchen, too, obviously—where there was eggnog, there was Dad, and plus he had to hang out with Matthew Gould, who Dad was too awkward to refer to anything other than his “best buddy” even though I knew all the details well enough to know they absolutely fucked just like all the rest of the polycule. Anna had gotten her hopes up at one point that maybe only one of her parents was fucking her client, but I’d shot those dreams down.

So, in the end, Dad was too distracted with his best buddy and it was Miss Charlotte who noticed us first coming into the kitchen, and she scowled. “Oh, Veronica’s back,” she said, with the tone of voice like someone might complain about a sewer line being clogged again. “You still haven’t gotten away from her, Kelcey?”

Kelcey beamed. “Not at all! Maria and Chelsea were telling me how we should get married. What do you think, Miss Charlotte? Do you think I should ask her to marry me tonight?”

Miss Charlotte made a face like Kelcey had asked her to lick out the sink drain. “Kelcey, young lady, have some dignity. I swear.”

Kelcey nodded. “It would be rather dignified to marry such an amazing woman…”

Dad turned to me with a big, bright look on his face. “Veronica! Kelcey! Welcome home, you two,” he said, coming over and pulling me into a hug, clapping a hand on my back. “How was France?”

“Oh my god.”

“France was great,” Kelcey said brightly.

“Really enjoyed Krakow,” I said.

Kelcey nodded. “Nothing more beautiful than the Thames at night.”

“Anyway, I need some eggnog,” I said. Dad nodded, like it was all normal.

“Ah, it’s been too long since we’ve gotten to take a trip over there… we’ll have to make it a whole family event.”

“Count me out,” Miss Charlotte muttered. “All that moving around? Having to go out in the sun all day? Bleh. Let me stay inside and read a damn book.”

Miss Charlotte provided enough friendly fire that it gave me the cover to get my eggnog and get away from the conversation, getting out to the family room, greeting a million people there who were all a little more excited to see Kelcey than they were to see me, which I would have been justified to be annoyed with, but honestly, Kelcey was by far the better out of the two of us, so I kinda got it.

Also, about three people total actually correctly placed where our vacation had been to. That was fine. Kelcey and I had enjoyed it enough that I was hoping for more work assignments to send the two of us abroad to any location at all.

It had worked out well for both of us over the last two years—after the whole incident with Danielson had gone down, Kelcey had stepped up to negotiate and handle the situation, and she managed to prove herself to the rest of her office in the process. She’d come a long way, even though she was still working in the same position now—mostly just that she was happy there and wasn’t in any rush to go anywhere else. Apparently, even Miranda had developed a soft spot for her, and she’d earned a reputation for being the go-to woman when it came to negotiating situations when a client was having an ego meltdown.

The woman was fully in her element—had a delicate touch and could make anybody just want good things for her. I mean, hell, she’d even made me just want good things for her, and I was the most incorrigible person alive.

I’d left ECR and made it back to that old fashion branding firm, and I’d found myself pretty comfy in the industry—still hopped from job to job, but I stayed closer to one spot, and it had paid off, already getting into a more influential role where they’d sent me off for an important meeting in Milan to talk a big game for some key partners and make sure everything went smoothly. And judging by how well it had gone, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had more in the works.

But that wasn’t exactly my number one highlight from the trip. Not when Kelcey surprised me with a dinner reservation at the most romantic place, took me up to the terrace, and dropped to one knee to ask me to marry her.

I was glad she did it in another continent. My reaction was so embarrassingly mushy, I could never have lived with myself if there’d been any chance of it making it back to Anna.

Anna and Lucy had gotten engaged in the summer last year and still had no plans for when their wedding date would be, content to just take their time—focus on work, more like—but I couldn’t get my head around the idea. I’d never have pictured myself being like this, but I found myself not wanting to wait another day to marry Kelcey. I mean, being able to look at her and call her my wife?

Maybe that thought was written on my face with the way I was staring at Kelcey sitting on the floor by the fireplace playing with the kids, me hovering off to the edge of the room stopping on my way back with a cappuccino and just gazing at her, because Anna caught me there, leaning against the wall next to me and saying, “I hear you had quite the tour of Europe.”

“Nobody knows where the fuck Milan is.”

She laughed, cupping her own coffee close to her lips, following my gaze to watch Kelcey. “I know you’ll die if I say mushy things to you, but… congratulations.”

“Ugh, figures Luce would tell you, useless lesbian that she is.” I laughed. “Ah, forget it. You know there’s one exception I can tolerate mushy things for. Thanks. I literally cannot believe how stupid lucky I am.”

“She feels the same way. And I guess I have to formally admit I was wrong about you…” She laughed, shaking her head. “In the end, not too sad you refused to stay away from her. You’ve really been making her happy.”

I ducked my head, looking down at my shoes. “Ah, well… she makes me a lot happier than that, so I’m still winning.”

“Gotten over your hangups over the scary word wife? ”

I elbowed her. “Maybe we can say things like boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife just gave me icks before because they weren’t about Kelcey. Maybe my heart just knew I had to hold out for her.”

“I’ll never get used to you being romantic.”

“You know, I specifically wrote a fanfic that wasn’t just smut because I knew you liked the squishier romantic ones. The least you could do is respect that. Do you know how hard it was to be sweet and romantic and vanilla and stuff?”

“I still did not want to read any of your erotic writing. A fact which remains true today.” She paused. “Also, fucking… mind control kink is not vanilla.”

“Oh yeah… I forgot I put that in there.”

“I wish I could forget,” she muttered.

“You know, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep stealing her for trips like that. Are you going to kill me if I keep sweeping your employee off her feet for romantic getaways across the ocean?”

“Ha. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll work out a setup for her to transition into a more remote-flexible position. Although I think Kelcey would be heartbroken if she didn’t get to come into the office all the time too… she does love getting to see everyone there.”

“She’s just… pure radiant sunshine. God, I love her. The things you turn into when there’s a girl on the line, huh?” I shrugged. “Well, one day you’ll marry yours too, and then I can start making fun of you for how you act like you’re not completely obsessed in every waking moment with your wife instead.”

“Hm. I think you’ll be too distracted with yours.”

“She’s definitely worthy of getting distracted by. Speaking of… watch this,” I said, and I pushed off from the wall, setting down my cappuccino and heading over to crash the show where the kids were gathered around Lucy and Kelcey, both of them playing while laughing together with the gaggle of children, and I knelt to where Kelcey beamed at me.

“Hi, beautiful,” she said.

“Hello, love of my life,” I said, and the kids made various eww laughing noises, appropriately grossed out at grownups being in love. I grinned at the kids. “Okay, you rascals, let me be in love here. Yeesh. Hey, kids, you mind if I take Kelcey for one second? I have a very important question I want to ask her while everyone’s here.”

The kids unilaterally booed at the idea of me taking Kelcey away. Kelcey laughed, waving her hand at them all. “You guys! I’ll be right back, okay? I love Veronica too, so it’s going to make me sad if you’re all mean to her!”

“ Okay, ” came the chorus of children, resigned to not being mean to me for now. I didn’t mind being the gay aunt everyone got to make jokes at the expense of and married to the gay aunt everyone loved. Seemed right for us, anyway. Just because I was soft for Kelcey didn’t make me not a dirty rascal.

I took Kelcey’s hand and helped her up to her feet, and she came with me, giggling and blushing, to the center of the room as Lucy—she was a good co-conspirator to the end, love her—turned the music down to hush the room and make everyone turn to where Kelcey and I stood in the center, and Kelcey bit her lip nervously.

“Why do I feel like this is real?” she said quietly.

I took her hands in mine, squeezing them lightly. “Because it is,” I whispered back. “I mean… not like this is a one-and-done thing. This is me continuing to choose this every day, forever. Every morning I wake up with you and every night I go to bed with you is asking you the same question. And if the answer is yes, I’ll never take it for granted.”

“Oh my god, I’m blushing,” she laughed, ducking her head nervously, and she wasn’t lying—full-faced blushing, which just looked cute on her. I was a fan.

I was kind of a fan of everything Kelcey Huntington, though.

“Kelcey,” I said, raising my voice enough to fill the room. “I, uh… my mom suggested this, and it seemed like a pretty good idea.”

Kelcey nodded, playing along. “Yeah? You know, I also got a cool idea from something your mom said. It’d be wild if it was the same idea.”

“Ha. Can you imagine? I mean, could be. We’re always in sync.” I squeezed her hands once and dropped to one knee, and I slipped my hand into my pocket, pulling out her ring, and I heard the collective gasp through the room as I presented it, because apparently everyone bought it. I mean, my family was… credulous, to say the least. “Kelcey Huntington, I want everyone to know for the rest of my life that I’ve dedicated myself to loving you. Will you marry me?”

Kelcey played her part perfectly, beaming like I’d just suggested the same thing for dinner she was about to suggest. “Oh my god, you’re not going to believe this,” she said as casually as anything, and she reached into her pocket. “I was just… uh…”

I mouthed other pocket to her quietly, and she lit up, checking her other pocket, and she whipped out my ring, presenting it to me.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing! Can you believe that?”

“Oh my god, what,” I said in a voice much too laid-back for a proposal. Across the room, I spotted the confused reactions of a dozen family members, looking around like they weren’t sure if they were supposed to laugh or clap, people furrowing their brows even as they clasped their hands over their mouths in excitement—everyone except Mom, who looked like she was seeing the greatest thing to ever happen on planet earth, already frantically wiping tears away, and except for Matthew Gould, who just smiled cheerfully like everything was normal. Literally nothing on earth could faze that guy.

“I know, right?” Kelcey said. “Oh my god, it’s like a sign.”

The kids giggled, which meant we were probably doing well. I slipped the ring onto Kelcey’s finger, and she slipped my ring onto mine, and even though we’d already done it, I couldn’t help the rush of excitement, a million feelings at the reality of the situation and getting to put an engagement ring on Kelcey’s finger. And her doing the same on mine.

“I love you, Veronica,” Kelcey said, as I rose back to my feet. “And I want to keep loving you forever, and ever, and… and even after that.”

“You’re not going to believe this,” I said, slipping my hands into hers. “I was just about to say the same thing.”

She gave me a look of faux shock. “No.”

“I absolutely was.” I kissed her, slipping my hands to her waist and holding her against me, and the room broke out in cheering that was only slightly hesitant and confused—except, of course, for Matthew Gould, who clapped cheerily, and Mom, who bawled her heart out that she was the happiest person alive and that she’d never seen anything more beautiful in her life.

Woman had some low standards. Well, whatever. Some Prestons were willing to just accept whatever. But I didn’t settle for anything less than Kelcey Huntington.

I mean, Kelcey Huntington. That was a woman worth spending a lifetime with.

∞∞∞

The End