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Epilogue

Epilogue

F ive months later

Talbot

We have a spring wedding ceremony on the beach in San Diego.

I do my best to make everything perfect for my Pumpkin, in my small way.

I barely have to do anything, though, because she’s got all the green business connections in Southern California at her beck and call.

I don’t know much about flowers, but we have locally grown blooms, dresses made from fair trade artisans, a farm-to-table dinner and all organic wine.

My job was mainly to get everybody to San Diego.

I flew in Max’s entire family, including Sam and her partner Jenna. Also here was Joy and her new beau. Everyone from the chilly Midwest seems to really take to the beach. So much so that I wonder if everyone should just move out here.

But the only taker on that offer is my mom, Dianne.

Sam and I started work on a mother-in-law suite almost as soon as we landed in San Diego last November.

Sam and Jenna bought the old rectory from me and are using it for a non-profit counseling center for addiction, mental wellness and victims of abuse.

I sold the bar to my partner Emmett, who seemed eager to buy it.

I took the money from the sale and what I had left from the settlement with the diocese and opened a restaurant.

It’s a tough and competitive market for a new eatery, but I’m a patient man, and I always get what I want.

Now, all I have to do is enjoy the day with my woman.

At the moment, my patience is wearing thin as my bride is late to the ceremony. I’m starting to get nervous, but then I finally see her.

Ed and Elizabeth walk my Max down the aisle and she’s unbelievably beautiful. So beautiful that I start to feel my chin tremble just a little bit. I never thought she could be lovelier than the day she walked into my bar, but I was wrong. She looks like an angel.

When the judge pronounces us husband and wife, I kiss her with one hand on her slightly curved belly. The dress is cut in a way that nobody else could possibly notice, and she’s barely showing yet.

When we break away from the kiss, she whispers something in my ear as everyone is clapping and cheering.

“Twins.”

“What?” I say.

She nods, her eyes welling up. “That’s why I was late. I had a feeling and I went for another sonogram this morning. Here. I wanted to surprise you.”

She shoves a picture in my hand and I look down. It is indeed a sonogram photo of twins.

Nobody is supposed to know that we are already pregnant, but I no longer care. She’s my wife and I’m about to be a dad.

I kiss her so hard I nearly bend her backward.

With my hand on her tummy, I hold up the picture. “We’re having twins!”

Screams of delight. Cheers. Applause.

Max’s parents and my mom jump up and hug each other, and Joy and Sam and Jenna have all covered their mouths in shock.

I whisper in her ear: “That was a dirty trick, and the best present anyone could give me. I’m going to punish and reward you in equal measure tonight.”

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