42. Mandy

"Please tell me I don't look like a monster in these heels."

I turned to Amanda as she crunched in the gravel of Jackson's driveway, her ankles nearly twisting from their height. I snorted as she glared at me. "You don't look like a monster. Maybe a little overdressed, though."

"You said it was a dinner party," she hissed, grabbing her purse from the car. "He's rich as shit. Of course I'm going to assume it's black tie."

"You also know him and know that he only does that kind of stuff for the press," I laughed.

Paul and Kate, Jackson's parents, mingled at the front door. Their eyes were trained on us as Kate lit a cigarette with a match, flicking it down by her side.

"Evening, ladies," Paul called out.

"Evening, Paul. Any chance you could grab Jack? Amanda's having a little trouble walking. Might need someone to—how do I put this—pick her up," I giggled. Amanda swung her purse at me in response.

"It's fine. I'll just take them off," she said.

"And get frostbite on your toes? Absolutely not."

The front door swung open and out stumbled Jack and a ten-year-older version of Wade. I hadn't seen him since our time back at NYU, and all things considered, he looked muchmore attractive than he had back then. "I understand I've been summoned to carry someone?" Jack asked.

"Amanda," I clarified, pointing a finger at her.

"Oh. Wade?" Jack smirked, grabbing him by the shoulder and pushing him toward us. "Go on. I'm sure you can handle it."

"You say that like I'm heavy," Amanda grunted, wiggling her heel out from the spot it had sunk in.

"You are heavy, Amanda. Grown human beings are heavy."

I jogged across the gravel in my boots toward Jack, throwing my arms around his neck as he caught me mid-stride. "Hello, princess," he whispered, kissing my cheek, my lips. "Is your mom coming?"

I nodded. "She said she had to pick something up but she's on her way."

"Perfect. Tiana's inside, Fred couldn't make it, though," he said.

"That's okay, I'd rather hang out with Tiana anyway. She's much better company than you guys," I teased.

"So funny." Jack rolled his eyes as he released me, ushering me in from the cold, an annoyed Amanda right behind us in Wade's arms.

————

"You've got to come to the house sometime," Tiana said around a mouthful of bread, not a care in the world for who saw her chewed food. "We have so many photo albums. There's this one of Jack on his training bike, butt-ass naked, covered in peanut butter?—"

"Hey," Jack snapped, his brows furrowed as he pointed his own piece of bread at her accusingly. "We agreed not to discuss that photo."

"Wait, that exists?" Wade chirped.

"Oh, it absolutely does," Tiana drawled, breaking off another bit of bread and dunking it in her portion of gumbo. Jack was, apparently, a ridiculously good chef. I didn't know how I managed to snag someone that could cook when I was so horrible at it, but I was more than thankful. "He's crying, too. It's hilarious."

"Tiana," Jack hissed. "Don't make me tell them about your prom photos."

Tiana's face went red instantly, the contrast so apparent against her pale skin and black hair. "Don't you fucking dare."

"Prom photos?" Mom asked, reentering the conversation as she wandered in from the kitchen, another glass of wine in her hand. "You should see Mandy's. No matter how many times I told her and Amanda that you aren't supposed to wear foundation that's two full shades lighter than your skin tone, they didn't listen. They looked like little baby clowns."

"Gianna," Amanda groaned. She leaned back in her seat beside me, her hands resting against her too-full belly. "You can't just tell people about that."

"If you didn't want people to know, honey, then you should have listened in the first place," Mom said, her giggle too much to hide.

"I would kill to see Mandy's prom photos," Jack laughed, his hand coming down gently on my thigh, squeezing just a touch. "And any other photos you have of her."

"You should come to my house for dinner sometime." Mom smirked as she met my gaze, a mirror of my own. "I've got so many childhood photos of her."

I rolled my eyes as I shoveled another spoonful of gumbo into my mouth. "I feel like we skipped over Tiana's far too quickly."

Paul and Kate looked at each other, each of them snickering. "I think I've got them on my phone, actually," Kate said. She reached behind her, fumbling for her purse, and within a second Tiana was on her feet snatching it before Kate could even make contact.

"Absolutely not," Tiana deadpanned. "I will not be having my parents show me off like that. Gross. I'm married now, Mom. I'm not some kid that you can parade on Facebook."

Jackson leaned over to me, his lips brushing against my ear. "I've got copies in my office," he whispered. "I'll show them to you later. Think Carrie, but worse."

Despite the chaos of dinner, it was genuinely a nice time. Having the people we cared most about with us was something I didn't think would happen, and yet Jackson had convinced his family and Wade to fly in. It was exactly like what I envisioned our wedding would be—intimate, cheerful, and full of mayhem.

————-

Mom stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window by the front, the vast expanse of Boulder and the surrounding woodlands glistening in the evening snowfall. She clutched a half-drank glass of wine in her hand, and gave me a little smile as I walked up to her.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" She asked, her voice low, hushed.

I took a deep breath, considering my options. I could lie, tell her things are okay, things are slow but building. Be my usual hum-drum, dramatic self. Or I could be honest. I went with honest. "I feel… incredible," I chuckled. "I didn't think I could feel like this. Everything has fallen into place, you know?"

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm the sole owner of the company now. I'm changing the name to Littleson's Designs. And things with Jack are just so natural. So easy. I know it seems silly, but in a way it feels like when I'd look at you and Dad when I was a kid and things just felt right between all of us."

She gave me a soft little smirk as she sipped her wine. "I thought that might be the case. It's not silly at all."

"You think?"

"I know, Miranda." She was the only one I was ever happy to let call me that. She'd given me the name, and I'd own it with her. "I know exactly what that feels like."

"It's a bit overwhelming, to be honest," I chuckled. "I didn't ever see this for myself. I didn't know if I even wanted it."

"I always knew you did," she smirked.

"Yeah, yeah, moms know best, whatever." I giggled as I bumped my shoulder against hers. "I think we might actually work out this time."

"I know you will." She took another sip of her wine before setting it on the table beside her, shoving her now-free hand into her purse instead. "I got you something."

"What? Why?"

"Because I thought it was time." Her eyes met mine, a little bit of sorrow, a little bit of happiness behind them. From her purse, she pulled the one thing I never thought I'd actually see again, the one thing she promised me when Dad died, the one thing she insisted she'd give to me when the time was right.

Dad's wedding ring.

"I…" I blinked at it as it spun around her finger loosely. She placed it into my waiting hands. "I don't understand."

"It's for Jack," she whispered, her lips spreading into a wide grin.

"For Jack?"

Footsteps sounded behind me, thick and heavy on the polished hardwood. I turned, cheeks flushed, mind racing, and found two green eyes staring back at me. The smallest smile played at his lips, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

What is happening?

He pressed a little kiss against my lips, shaking fingers pushing my hair back from my face, and before I could even register the kiss he had placed on my lips, he dropped down to one knee.

Oh my God.

"Mandy," he said, then cleared his throat. "I…"

He took a deep breath, shaking his head at whatever thoughts were racing through it.

"You know what? Fuck the speech I prepared. I'm saying what I feel," he started. "From the moment I met you, I knew you were it for me. I chased you. I spent seven months convincing you to trust me, to know me, to be with me. And when everything became screwed up, when I didn't handle things right the first time, I spent ten years trying to convince myself that I could be happy alone because I knew I couldn't win you back."

"Jack—"

"Shh," he laughed. "Let me finish. I devised a plan," he continued, "a stupid, reckless, idiotic plan to move my entire life to Colorado on the slight chance that I could fix things. And I did. But then I messed it up again."

"It's okay?—"

"Mandy, please," he said, trying to control his chuckling. He pulled a little wooden box from his pocket, holding it in his hand before me. "I want to do it right this time. Right by you, right by our families, right by us. I only ask that you extend the gratitude you've given me that I truly did not deserve into the future in case I fuck it up again. Just know that I love you, eternally, unconditionally. Everything I've done up to this point is for you. So on that note…"

His fingers fumbled with the latch on the box, popping it open and revealing the ring. My ring.

I thought I was going to pass out.

"Will you do me the absolute honor of marrying me, princess?"

"For real this time?" I breathed, my body caught in a state of shock. I couldn't move, couldn't focus.

"For real this time," he nodded.

The backs of my eyes burned as I realized this was my life. This was what I knew I wanted, this was what I'd been searching for, waiting for. "Yes," I croaked, my smile coming out in full force as I finally regained control. "A million times, yes."

My mom, Tiana, Amanda, his parents, Wade, they all stood behind him on the other side of the room, their hands coming together all at once to clap as Jack rose to his full height. He slid the ring onto my finger, back into its rightful spot. I'd missed it.

Jack cupped my cheek, leaning down to kiss me and I kissed him back with everything I had, knowing I'd truly found exactly what I was hoping for, exactly what I wanted.

He was my everything. He always had been.

THE END