Epilogue

EPILOGUE

brAD

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

I didn't need more proof that Brad and Mary were serious about their relationship. I've seen it over the past months, watched them together, the little looks, the evident love. I was the best man at the wedding two months after Rust proposed. I'd never seen so much emotion in him, never thought that the cold, stony-eyed Rust could feel that much.

He's proved me wrong, and this proves me wrong again. I am holding my niece, little Nessa, Ness for short, because Mary wanted to honor Vanessa, our mother, but she wanted little Ness to be her own person. As I hold her, my eyes stinging with tears of love, Mary and Rust watch me. Even now, they still have that vague feeling of suspicion, like they think I will suddenly change my mind.

The truth is, though, I can't think of anybody better for my sister. She has just the right amount of maturity, and he's just the right amount of stunted. His childhood forced him to close off, but she's opened him up. He's like a new man. As he sits at her bedside, his hand in hers, they look like nothing but husband and wife. It fits in a way I never would've guessed before.

Dad stifles a tear from beside me. His and Mary's reconciliation started with the wedding. Now, Dad has been in a program for six months. He's becoming the man he was before Mom's death robbed him from us.

"Can I hold her?" Dad asks.

"Of course you can, sir," Rust says, respectful as he has always been since we were kids.