Epilogue

Hugh

Where are you? Your mother set out the flower vases as the centerpiece on the head table and now Birch is getting emotional again.

Marigold elbowed me. "You really going to text people on your wedding day?"

"I'm already married," I murmured. "And I'm trying to find out where the hell Oscar went. People are going to begin arriving soon."

Oscar

I had to grab something from my car. Be there in a sec. *red heart emoji*

Marigold peered over my shoulder. "Oh-em-gee, my standoffish brother just heart-emoji'd you? Will wonders never cease."

"He's not standoffish. He never was," I said, sliding the phone back into my pocket and glancing around the event space. The barn looked similar to the way it had been decorated for Hyacinth's wedding, but all the doors and windows were thrown wide open, and the summer sun slanted in, lighting up the jumble of wildflowers spilling out of jelly jars and pottery crocks in the center of each table. It was completely unlike the formal wedding reception I'd always imagined for myself… and also completely perfect.

Over the past several months I'd fallen even more in love with the Vermont property. Not only was it the center of Oscar's big, loving family, but it was also the place we'd made many memories together. Oscar had made it a point to bring us out here whenever I had breaks between photography jobs, and we'd even gone into the town of Stowe to do some HEA interviews for my TikTok account.

The morning after Hyacinth's wedding, I'd woken up early, unpacked my suitcase into Oscar's enormous dressing room, and taken my camera out to catch some shots of the sunrise as a special treat for Hyacinth and Dirk.

For Valentine's Day, Oscar had taken my favorite shot to be framed. Now, the Vermont sunrise photo taken the morning of our new awakening lived in its place of honor over the mantel in our New York apartment.

But as much as I loved it, nothing beat the real thing. It was why I'd wanted to spend the summer in Vermont and celebrate our commitment here.

Marigold nodded toward the open barn doors. "Behold, your husbeast. And he comes bearing gifts. I thought he already got you a wedding present?"

I glanced at the wrapped parcel in his hands and recognized what it was. "That's not for me. It's for your parents. And, yes, he got me an original Gregory Colbert. It's in my studio in the city. When you come over next time, remind me to show it to you."

Oscar veered toward us and leaned in to kiss me. "Come with me to give this to them?"

Marigold huffed. "Hello to you, brother."

"Goldie, I saw you ten minutes ago. Go find something useful to do. Chuckie might need help setting up." He didn't take his eyes off me. Instead, he leaned in and pressed another kiss to my lips. "Mm."

I knew he was referring to the slightly salty taste of himself still noticeable on my tongue from earlier. I'd stopped him in the pantry earlier and dropped to my knees to reward him for looking so damned sexy in the linen pants he'd chosen.

He'd agreed to my idea of a casual wedding reception in Vermont, even though he knew he would spend the entire weekend getting ribbed by all his happy exes and his meddling family. He'd done that for me because he'd made it clear he wanted me to have the wedding of my dreams.

And I had.

Two days ago, Oscar and I had made our vows to each other in our backyard garden with only his parents and Abby and Dex as our witnesses. And Frank, of course.

It had been everything. I'd taken Abby's words to heart and realized the important part of the wedding was the words I exchanged with Oscar, not the crowd or decorations surrounding us.

The party tonight was much less stressful now that it was simply a celebration with friends. It felt much more like a summer party than a big event with high expectations.

Thanks to Oscar's obscenely large bank account, he'd pulled out all the stops, even hiring Rafa to manage it for us. The smell of smoked meat floated through the air from the large catering trucks out back, and one of our favorite live bands was setting up on the stage at the far end of the barn.

Friends from all over had flown in for the long weekend, and all of the spare bedrooms in the various Flower Family homes on the property were full of guests.

I caught Abby's eye across several tables and nodded slightly toward Marigold. Abby nodded and made her way over before gushing over Marigold's sundress and asking for her help lighting the votive candles on several remaining tables. For some reason, Rafa was nowhere to be found, but there were plenty of friends and family lined up to fill in the gaps.

Once Oscar's sister was out of the picture, I grabbed his hand. "Let's go before anyone else interrupts."

We walked toward the head table, where Gloria was still fussing over the flowers in the family vases while chatting happily at Birch.

I turned to Oscar. "You sure you don't want me to gather your siblings? They'd probably?—"

"Fuck no. This is hard enough as it is," he said, squeezing my hand. "Don't… don't get distracted and let someone drag you away, okay?"

"Promise," I said, biting back the smile I felt at seeing him this anxious. Despite his prickly exterior, Oscar's heart was tender and precious. He cared so much about his family and never wanted to let them down. I was thrilled to see him finally embracing their love for him.

"Mom… Dad?"

Birch's eyes snapped up. I could see he was still a little surprised at Oscar's use of the endearment even though he'd been referring to Birch that way since shortly after New Year's. But the hopeful expression on his face showed just how much he appreciated Oscar's effort.

"Yeah, baby? Doesn't it look great? That Rafa sure does know how to?—"

"I got you something," Oscar blurted, shoving the gift at them. "It's no big deal."

I bit my lips together to keep from correcting him. It was a very big deal.

Birch took the package and handed it to Gloria to unwrap. "Thanks, son. But I'm pretty sure you're the one who's supposed to be receiving the gifts today."

Oscar shook his head. "We don't need anything. But I wanted you to have this, especially tonight."

I slid my arm around Oscar's waist and waited. Gloria opened the package carefully until she pulled the cut-crystal vase out of the box.

Oscar pointed at it. "Um, it's…"

Birch's voice was reverent as he reached for the vase. "Asclepias physocarpa. The Oscar plant."

Gloria looked up at him with a tremulous smile before glancing back at her son. "Baby… it's beautiful." Both of them got teary-eyed. "Thank you so much. Now our family collection is complete."

Birch handed the vase back to Gloria as he rounded the table and grabbed Oscar in a bear hug, lifting him up from the ground and grunting with the effort. "Fuck, Oscar," he mumbled into Oscar's hair. "You have no idea how much this means to us."

Oscar sniffed and shuffled on his feet after Birch set him down. "It means a lot to me too. Thank you. Thank you for… for everything."

Birch swiped at his eye with the palm of his hand. "I love you." He turned to me. "And I love you too, Hugh. Thank you for helping Oscar realize how much we care about him, how much our family wouldn't be complete without him. And now without both of you."

Gloria came over and hugged Oscar for a long time, too emotional to speak. When she finally pulled away, she looked adoringly between the two of us. "I'm so happy. You both bring joy to our lives. And we're so proud of you."

Birch set the vase in the center of the collection before yanking various wildflowers from the other vases to fill it. He and Gloria fussed over it until you couldn't tell it hadn't always been there.

Various Flower Family siblings wandered over when they saw what was happening. "About time," Sage said, pounding Oscar on the shoulder.

Jasmine covered her mouth with both hands and made a satisfied humming sound. Rose shot a loving look at Oscar. Heath leaned over to study the design.

"What's everyone looking at?" a voice I didn't recognize called from behind us.

Oscar peered over his shoulder at the newcomer. "Oh, I also got you that."

Gloria squealed. "Basil! Oh my gosh, when did you get here?"

As all of them swarmed their long-lost son and brother, who'd just flown in from Iceland as a surprise, Oscar turned to me and exhaled. "Good idea with the brother distraction. His timing couldn't have been better. I've reached my limit on emotional moments today."

I huffed out a laugh. "Then you're in for several surprises later, considering this is our marriage celebration and all of your best man toasts are probably going to come back to bite you in the ass later once the alcohol starts flowing."

He grinned at me. "At least I'm not on the hook for a best man speech for once."

Little did I know how wrong he was. Several hours later, once the alcohol had definitely started flowing and the cake had been cut, Oscar Overton stood up to give a speech.

I expected it to be a simple "Thanks for coming" thing, but he shocked the hell out of me.

We sat at the head table with fresh glasses of champagne and remnants of cake in front of us. Tons of our friends and family had already given toasts, and I was almost ready for another spin on the dance floor when Oscar stood up.

He looked out across the full tables, warmly lit with votives and happy faces. "Thank you all for coming to this historic event."

Everyone laughed.

"As you know, I swore off the whole marriage thing a while ago." He made a dramatic shudder. "Ew, no. That was definitely not for me. I was way better as a best man than a groom." Oscar turned and looked down at me with a kind of tenderness that made my stomach flutter. "So I'm going to give a best man speech tonight because we all know I'm pretty much an expert now."

Several of Oscar's friends groaned, which made everyone laugh again.

Oscar leaned down and kissed my forehead, murmuring, "I love you," before standing up again and facing our guests.

"But first, I'm going to show you a video."

I blinked at him before looking over at the large screen, where my TikTok account popped up. I glanced at Oscar in confusion, wondering which of my couples he'd chosen to feature.

Then, a video I didn't recognize began to play. I caught Abby's eye long enough for her to shoot me a wink. "You're welcome," she mouthed.

Oscar's face came on the screen. He was standing in one of my favorite interview spots in Central Park, surrounded by spring flowers.

"The first time I met Hugh was at an ex-boyfriend's wedding. I, being the insufferable asshole that I'm prone to be, told him very clearly that I was not looking to fall in love. Not because I didn't believe in love but because love didn't believe in me. Hugh, being the romantic that he is, was horrified, because Hugh believes in love. Absolutely, without question, Hugh Linzee is a romantic."

Then the screen went dark for a brief moment before my own face appeared. I sat on a bench beside the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, surrounded by new fallen snow and twinkling lights. I recognized it as a practice video I'd shot the night I interviewed Connor and Wells for my channel—one of the interviews Oscar had generously set up weeks before we'd acknowledged the truth of our feelings for one another, and the first one I'd shot after we'd returned to the city from Vermont together. "Just talk to the camera," I'd told Connor when he'd seemed a bit hesitant. "Just be honest. Like this…" And then I'd proceeded to tell the seriously imperfect but oh-so-amazing truth about how I'd fallen in love with Oscar Overton.

Abby must have seen the footage when she edited the interview and kept it all this time.

In the video, I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees, and spoke to the camera. Little puffs of clouds escaped my lips with each word. "Oscar was very clear up front that he didn't intend to fall in love. I actually still have one of his earliest texts, so I can quote exactly what he said." I cleared my throat and dropped my voice, taking on a slightly posh accent as I said, "‘You are on a mission to find The One. If you're with me, you'll be too busy to keep looking for him.' I edited that a bit to make it PG, but still, I can't fault Oscar for what happened. He warned me not to fall in love with him. And to be fair, I tried really hard not to at first."

The video switched again, back to Oscar. He sat in his living room back in the city, nearly every surface around him lit with glowing candles the way it had been two months ago when he'd proposed to me. "We even set all these rules to make sure we wouldn't accidentally fall in love," he said, laughing and shaking his head. "The number one rule: our only communication was via text."

Snap to me laughing. "Sooooo many texts. We talked about everything, and I mean everything. Oscar was the first person I messaged in the morning?—"

Oscar's face filled the screen again. His expression was confident and sweet, a heady combination I adored. "He was always my last text of the day. And you know what? Every night I heard from him, I went to bed with a smile on my face."

Back to me. "He made me laugh all the time. I learned to mute our text chain when I was working out of fear I'd end up cracking up at some inappropriate moment."

After fading out again, Oscar shifted on the couch, smiling softly. "Then came our first mistake. We ended up at the same wedding. We spent the entire weekend together."

The video cut back to me. "The tipping point was probably my sister's wedding celebration. My date bailed at the last minute, and Oscar offered to step in. I can't believe I'm about to admit this to the entire world, but at the time, we pretended to be dating to make my ex-boyfriend jealous. I know, I know, it's not the proudest thing I've done." My smile slipped to something softer, almost nostalgic. "Somewhere in all of the fake dating, I realized something: my feelings for Oscar had become very, very real. No…" I sighed. "That's not the truth. The truth is… I'd been in love with Oscar for a long time."

In the video, Oscar clasped his hands together, staring at his fingers for a moment. "I refused to fall in love with Hugh." He blew out a soft breath of laughter. "I'd have had better luck telling the sun not to set, or the ocean not to touch the sand, or wind not to blow. Because that's what love is—true love is a force of nature. It's a tornado that storms into your life, and you can try to stand against it, but you will fail every time."

My heart thundered in my chest as I looked over at Oscar sitting next to me, our wedding cake in crumbs on the plate, champagne glasses half-empty from so many loving toasts from friends and family.

This was it. I was living my happily ever after.

And it was so much better than I'd ever imagined. More real. More unpredictable. More full of love and laughter, friends and family.

My face appeared on the screen again. "Oscar makes everything easy… including falling in love. By the time I realized, it was too late. I was too far gone. Hopelessly, irrevocably, helplessly in love."

When it faded to Oscar again, he was back in the park. "The honest truth is, I was scared. I've dated a lot of men in my life, and every breakup took a piece of me with it. But I knew breaking up with Hugh would take my whole heart. There'd be nothing left. And so I panicked."

"He was so prickly. So stubborn," I said, sitting in the exact same spot in the park, months before Oscar must have recorded his own video with my sister's help. "Oscar made it clear he wasn't going to fall for me no matter what. And I, having been a helpless romantic my whole life, had gotten a somewhat skewed vision of what love should be. I thought it should be easy. I didn't think it should require fighting for it. And I knew that if I wanted to be with Oscar, I was going to have to fight for it. So I figured that meant it couldn't be true love."

The video flipped back to Oscar. "I was an idiot."

Then it was my turn. "I was an idiot."

The crowd in the barn laughed. I looked around at our friends and family as they learned the truth of our beginning.

"You know there's this ‘curse' about dating Oscar, right?" I continued. "How every single man he's dated has gone on to find true love, most of them with the next man they've dated after breaking up with Oscar? So many happy couples out there supposedly have Oscar to thank. But for me, I knew there'd never be an after-Oscar, because Oscar Overton is the love of my damn life. So I decided to fight for him. For us." I smiled at the camera. "Except, as it turned out, Oscar made that easy too."

The screen switched to Oscar. He was in our apartment again with the candles, and I had to assume he'd recorded this before I'd come home to the surprise that night. I held my breath, wondering what he was going to say next. "Hugh, you once told me you wanted candles and fireworks." Behind him in the video, the sky exploded in a riot of fireworks, just like it had later that night after I'd said yes. "You wanted passionate declarations of love… and you deserve them. The truth of the matter is, I love you, Hugh. The kind of breath-stealing, knee-knocking, life-altering love that comes around so rarely you think it would never happen to you. You are it for me. You're my person, you're my forever, and I want to spend the rest of my life proving to you that you're my happily ever after."

As the video faded out, I looked up at him. His cheeks were damp with tears, and his bottom teeth scraped his top lip nervously.

I stood up and clasped his face. "I told you so."

His face broke out into a huge grin, a relieved breath whooshing out of his mouth before it crashed down on mine. After a long, loving kiss, he pulled back. "You're not mad at me for blowing our cover?"

"Pretty sure this proves it's no longer fake," I said, pulling up our joined hands to remind him about our matched pair of infinity ring wedding bands. "Unless we've taken the ruse to ridiculously pro levels."

Boone's loud wolf whistle accompanied our next kiss, Roman tossed his napkin at Oscar's head and shouted for us to get a room, James ducked his face into Sawyer's neck as his face turned red from secondhand embarrassment, and Wells' deep, familiar laughter rang out from the table next to ours.

"This room is full of HEAs," I said to Oscar with a smile. "And none of them would have happened if it hadn't been for you."

"I only care about this one," he said softly. "You and me. For always."

"I promise to stay," I assured him. "Please don't worry that it's going to fail someday."

Oscar's smile was soul-deep and made it all the way to his eyes. "Every day with you is worth it. Even if it fails one day, it will have been the honor of my life to spend this time with you, Hugh Linzee."

"For such an anti-romantic, you sure do know how to charm a man, Oscar Linzee," I teased, relishing the opportunity to use his new name. His eyes darkened as his grin turned downright feral, but before he could say anything or kiss me again, the music started up.

Beyoncé's "Halo" started playing. Oscar's eyes turned playful again as he held out his hand to me. "Dance with me, husband."

As he pulled me over to the dance floor and held me tight against him, his familiar scent enveloped me. It was the smell of the sexiest man I knew, the smell of love, the smell of home.

I leaned in to whisper in his ear. "As far as wedding pickup lines go… pretty sure that was my favorite. Ten out of ten. Would marry again."

The sound of his laughter danced through me, and I knew it would become the soundtrack of our life together.

My very own Real Life Happily Ever After.

* * *