Epilogue

One year later.

The Yorkshire Gazette social pages

The esteemed Mr And Mrs McWilliams of Hedge Manor, along with renowned Australian comedian Stephen Holmes, were proud parents at the nuptials of their children yesterday.

Hope McWilliam, raised in Yorkshire but residing in Melbourne for the last six years, wore a strapless ivory chiffon dress embossed with tiny silver treble clefs as she wed construction CEO Logan Holmes.

Logan, a native of Rally-Doo, a small rural town in outback Victoria, surprised his wife with a serenade of her hit song Yearning at a small reception at the McWilliams estate.

Five-hundred-pounds-a-bottle French champagne flowed freely alongside boutique Australian beers, while guests dined on Beef Wellington, fish and chips, fruit pavlova, and lamington cheesecake. A true melding of cultures indeed.

White lilies, pink roses, and Australian natives blended seamlessly as table centrepieces, while potted eucalypts decorated the entrances. A local band, started by the late Harry Remmez over a decade ago, played a feet-tapping mix of original jazz and pop tunes, some of which were written by the bride who gifted copyright to the band.

"Harry fostered my love of music for many years and I'm proud that his band continues his legacy in singing some of my songs," the bride said.

Guests danced the night away before retreating to their rooms in the manor.

The newlywed Mrs. Hope Holmes had this to say: "This has been the happiest day of my life. I'm so glad I followed my heart to Australia and found this amazing man. He's my home. My love. My everything."

At that point, the groom, Logan Holmes, burst into a rousing rendition of his wife's newest hit 'Love of my Life' that didn't leave a dry eye in the house.

The Melbourne Morning Chronicles

Fresh from a tour of London following a family wedding, popular comedian Stephen Holmes has announced an upcoming project with his son, construction king Logan Holmes.

After acquiring prime land on the outskirts of Melbourne's CBD, Logan's company will construct a state of the art, purpose built comedy club to showcase up and coming talent.

Stephen, a veteran of the stand-up scene in Australia, will personally mentor the comedians lucky enough to be a part of this venture.

A proud Logan had this to say about his father: "Dad pursued his dream when it was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do and I'm so proud of him for now fostering the dreams of others. I'll be in the front row of opening night for all his shows and that of his protégés."

When asked for a comment, Stephen said: "While I love my job and am looking forward to this new challenge, Logan is my greatest achievement. He makes me smile better than any joke I could ever tell and I'm looking forward to coming up with some new, innovative knock-knock jokes to tell my first grandchild."

Hope chuckled and stabbed at the article in the paper. "Is your dad trying to tell us something?"

"He's turned into a sentimental old fool," Logan said, snatching the paper from her and rolling it up before gently tapping her naked butt with it. "Though I guess it's not his fault he doesn't know that we intend on doing a lot of practice first before we get to the baby making stage."

She loved their Sunday morning sleep-ins, when the glorious Melbourne sun poured through the blinds and bathed them in warmth, as they read the newspaper together and talked.

"Practice is fun." Hope wiggled her eyebrows and winked at her husband. "How about another session?"

He picked up the sheet and glanced under it. "It's only been five minutes but give me another two to recover and you've got a deal, Mrs Holmes."

"Lucky me." She batted her eyelashes and snuggled into him, revelling in their skin-to-skin contact.

"I'm the lucky one," he said, brushing soft kisses across her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips.

"You are my world," he whispered against her mouth, his breath tickling her lips.

With her heart full to bursting, she started humming her song with the same title. His eyes lit up because he knew that every song she wrote, every word she sung, was about him and for him.

The love of her life.

Her muse, her partner, her husband, her world.

Lucky indeed.

If you enjoyed THE WANDERER, please consider leaving a review.