Epilogue

KY - 16TH ANNIVERSARY

“Daddy, why do you and Momma have two different wedding anniversaries?”

“Did you ask your mom?” I stared at my oldest daughter, who turned fourteen a few days ago, as she shook her head. “Why not?”

“She was busy with Kinnie.” I chuckled and wondered what my 7-year-old had gotten up to that kept my wife so busy. Kincaid was our youngest, the only boy of the bunch, and he kept us on our toes like the girls never did.

“Well,” I saw movement from around the corner and rolled my eyes. The little asshole, who was my daughter’s best friend, didn’t need to hear this story. He’d get bigger ideas about my Lina than I wanted him to have. “Get over here Colton. No point in hiding when I already saw you.”

The boy, to his credit, marched into the room with his shoulders back and head held high, as if he hadn’t just been caught sneaking around. Lina grinned at Colton as he rolled his eyes at her. The slight pink of his cheeks told me I was on the money with my original assessment. The little shit had it bad for my daughter. I wondered if it was how I used to come across to Bea’s dad when we were younger. Not that it mattered. One thing I knew for certain was that Bea’s parents never interfered with our friendship and I couldn’t do the same with Lina and Colt.

“Take a seat, this is a bit of a long story.”

They sat so close their bodies touched from shoulders to hips, hips to knees and down to their feet. A low growl of disapproval escaped, and Colt had enough sense to slide over an inch or two while my daughter poked her lip out in an unhappy pout.

“Bea and I were childhood friends.”

“Did you ever date when you were in school?” Colt asked before I could even get the story started. Yep, the bastard had it bad for my girl. I shook my head in answer. That wasn’t good enough for him though as he followed up with another quick question. “Why not? You ended up married eventually, so you must have liked her back then.”

“I did like her back then and she liked me too. We just didn’t know the other felt that way. Every time one of us got up the nerve to take our friendship further, the other had given up for different reasons and decided we were better off friends.” I chuckled. “Bea and I kept missing telling each other how we felt by minutes sometimes. That’s what happened when she met the first man she was engaged to.”

Lina gasped. “Mom was engaged? Before you?” She added on to clarify.

“Yep. It was another one of those times I had finally got the nerve to tell her exactly how I felt about her. I even asked her out on a date, though she didn’t know that was what it was at the time.”

“Then what happened?” Colt asked.

“Bea had some car trouble. The two men that stopped for her were Law and Todd. They were best friends, and Todd was really interested in Bea. He was the one to make his friend stop to help her when Law would have just passed right by. Once the idiot got a good look at your mom, he decided to ask her out and she agreed.”

“Wait, but you had a date set up.”

“We did. In my mind it was a date. In Bea’s mind, it was just dinner. When she told me all about the knight in shining armor who rescued her, and how he asked her out on a date for the next night, I knew I’d waited too long again. She missed our dinner date because of being broken down and she had already accepted a date for the next night with someone else.”

“Aw, man! That sucks, dude.”

“It really does,” I agreed with Colt.

“Why didn’t you tell her that your dinner was supposed to be a date?” My daughter asked.

“She seemed so damn happy about it.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Even if I couldn’t have the woman I wanted, my biggest wish was always for your mom to be happy. So, I let her go and hoped the guy was an asshole or something, so I could get my shot again.”

“That obviously didn’t happen, since they got engaged,” Lina mumbled.

“Did you forget your parents are married?” Colt teased her and bumped her shoulder.

“Yeah, but she almost married someone else.”

“She did,” I agreed.

“So, he wasn’t an asshole?” Colt asked.

I laughed. “Oh, no. He was a major asshole and he proved it by leaving Bea a note on their wedding day telling her that he was going to shoot his shot with another woman whom he had been falling for. She was someone he worked with. That woman turned him down because he was the kind of asshole who would leave his bride at the church on her wedding day.”

“At least she was smart,” Lina huffed.

“Yep, but so was I. When your mom told me what happened, I told her to meet me down the aisle and that her wedding day wouldn’t be wasted.”

Lina squealed as Colt nodded his head knowingly.

“So, you got married.”

“Yes and no. This is where the two anniversaries come into play.” I told the kids about how our first marriage wasn’t legal and we had to wait to get married for real, but the minute we were able to, I married Bea all over again.

“Wow! That’s so romantic. I’m so glad Law was an asshole.”

“Language,” I growled at my daughter.

“You let Colton say it like twice now.”

“Colt isn’t my kid, you are. You’re right though. We’re all very happy that Law was a stupid asshole who didn’t realize he had the best woman in the world by his side, ready to marry him.”

“So, what happened to that guy?”

“He ended up in jail for about a day for fraud and had to pay a $10,000 fine. He landed on his feet eventually thanks to his rich parents who bailed him out and paid the fine. That didn’t stop his employer from firing him for having a fraud conviction on his record, though.” I didn’t need to tell them about Sandra’s part in everything or how she was found guilty on two attempted homicide charges as well as assault with a deadly weapon. She was still in prison serving out her forty-year sentence.

“Did he ever get married?” My sweet daughter asked.

“Pretty sure he’s been married four or five times now.”

“So, he never learned his lesson, huh?”

“Nope. Some people are just terminally stupid from birth.”

“That’s never going to be us,” Lina suggested as she reached over and took Colt’s hand. Her best friend grinned at her.

“Nope. We’re gonna get married and have lots of babies together.”

“What the fuck? Bea!” I yelled for my wife because she was going to need to help me dig a hole out back to bury the little shit in.

“What?” Bea ran in exasperated with Kinnie hot on her heels.

“They’re talking about getting married and having babies. Get the shovel.”

“Oh that?” My wife asked, as if she already knew their plans. I narrowed my eyes on Bea and she giggled. While it was cute as fuck, I didn’t think the situation warranted giggles.

“They’re 14.”

“Yep, and I think they already had at least two fake weddings.

“Wait, what? How do you know?”

“I was there for them,” Bea announced.

I turned back to my daughter. “You had two fake weddings and didn’t ask me to walk you down the aisle?”

“Sorry, Dad. I thought you’d freak out.”

“I will. I don’t care if it’s a fake wedding when you’re 12 or a real one when you’re 42. I will absolutely freak out, but I still want to be there to walk you down that aisle. You’re my baby. You need to know that even if I do, one day when you’re like 53, give you away to the man of your dreams, I will always be there to pick you up if you fall down - or if he screws up.” I turned my gaze on Colt as I said the last bit.

“Aww, Dad,” Lina mumbled as she threw herself into my arms. “I love you. I’m definitely getting married way sooner than 42 or 53 though. That’s really old. Like, I don’t think I could even have babies when I get that old.”

My wife rolled her eyes at our daughter. “You might want to keep the ‘old stuff’ down a bit, your mom is getting offended.” Bea rolled her eyes at me again and then blew me a kiss before going back to whatever mess she had to clean up with our youngest terror.

“No more getting married without me, promise?”

“I promise.”

“Good. Now, I think it’s time Colton went home and thought about the fact that if he ever hurts my beautiful baby girl, I will dig a hole in the backyard and bury him in it. Then I’ll plant an endangered species on top of it so no one can ever dig up his body.”

“Dad!”

“I’d never hurt my future wife,” Colt tossed out coolly until I stood up and tossed my daughter onto the couch, so I could go after the smug little shit.

“Bye Mrs. Armstrong.”

“Better run fast, Colton!” Bea called back to him. I heard the door close and then turned to see my daughter grinning so big it looked like her face might actually stick like that.

“What are you so happy about?”

“I’m really going to marry that boy one day, Dad.” It was my turn to pout. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t want anyone else to walk me into my future, except you.” Lina got up and ran off as my wife came back into the room without our son in tow.

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

I shook my head and pulled my beautiful wife into my arms. She locked her hands around my neck and smiled up at me with those plump lips of hers. I brushed some of her stray curls back out of her face and wouldn’t even think of pointing out how a couple of them had a silver sheen. She was still just as beautiful as when we married and even more so than when I had fallen in love with her long before that. She was the mother to my three children, the woman of my dreams, and I got to love her up every chance I got. I never admitted it to anyone, but I thanked Law every night, when I laid down beside my woman, that he was too stupid to see the treasure he tossed aside.

“I love you even more now than I ever have before,” She told me.

“Is that right?” I asked

“Yup. You were so sweet with them just now even though I know it killed you to admit that your daughter is of an age where she is considering who she might marry one day.”

“We still have a few years to go before she can do anything about that legally. I have time to plot and plan.”

Bea giggled again and the sound was music to my ears. I leaned in closer and breathed her in. She smelled like cupcakes thanks to the mess she and our son made in the kitchen. “You have time but you won’t do anything to impede her happiness and that is why you are the very best man this world has to offer.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. Pretty sure I should reward you for being such a good man later on tonight.”

“I’m not going to turn down your rewards, Sweet Bea. I love you more than I did the first time I fell in love with you.”

She smiled at me again as I leaned in and kissed her lips. “Just how many times have you fallen in love with me, Ky?”

“At least once a day since we met.”

“We met when we were kids,” she reminded me needlessly.

“Yeah, and I’ve been falling more in love with you every day since then.”

“You are the very best man! Let’s hope, for our daughter’s sake, that Colt follows in your footsteps.” Bea winked at me as she walked away. “Don’t forget to meet me upstairs around ten for your reward, handsome.”

I truly was the luckiest man alive.