47. Epilogue

Epilogue

Liam

One year later

I quickly climb out of the car and before I can make it to Sage's side she's already out. She grabs a hold of my hand and gives me a reassuring squeeze as we walk for the house and I've never been one to pray but as we make our way closer, I silently pray my mom is okay. Capri just told us to get here fast, but I'm losing my mind.

"It's going to be okay." Sage squeezes my hand and I pull in a deep breath before walking into the house. My eyes scan the room and I spot Capri's red hair and Moon laughing in front of her.

"Pri."

She whips around, and when her smile doesn't falter, I let out a relieved breath.

"Hey, guys!" Moon pulls Sage in for a hug, but I keep my eyes on Capri.

"Liam…" She looks between Sage and me, and I don't know what the fuck the suspense is about, but it's killing me. Just before I tell her to spit it the hell out, she says, "Your mom is lucid."

I go still, and I can see Sage turn to me in the corner of my eyes.

"What?"

"She's lucid. She remembers… everything. It may not last long, maybe a few hours or the whole day. Maybe she'll be lucid for the week if we're lucky, but I called you as soon–"

"She remembers?"

Pri barely finishes nodding before I pull Sage with me to find her. I stop in my tracks when I see her in the backyard, skipping rocks in the pond.

"Are you okay?"

I look over at Sage, but I can't seem to form any words.

"Do you want to go alone or–"

I quickly shake my head, no, and she holds my hand a bit tighter. "Okay… I would say you can take your time, but the last time she was lucid, we didn't make it here in time, so I think we should go."

She keeps her tone light, and I can't help but smile at her. I take in another breath before Sage leads us out, and I'm so grateful she's here. When we reach the pond, my mom has her back to us, and Sage softly clears her throat.

When her eyes meet mine, it's as if she's seeing me for the first time in years, and I realize she really is in there. I immediately pull her in for a hug, and she holds me incredibly close.

"Oh, my sweet boy."

I squeeze my eyes shut at the sound of her voice, and I feel her kiss my shoulder softly. When I pull away, I smile down at her and wipe her tears.

"Hi, Mom."

She smiles up at me and pulls me in again. I don't know how long we stand there but when we pull away I notice Sage wiping her tears and she isn't discreet about it although I know she tries to be.

I pull her hand before kissing her cheek, and I make sure to keep her close. My mom looks between the two of us, and when I see the tears building in her eyes, I have to look away. I focus on Sage instead, and when she smiles at my mom, it does something to my heart.

"Capri filled me in just a bit before you got here." My mom takes Sage's hand and smiles so big at her ring.

I figured when she's lucid, she'd remember everything, but Capri explained to us the last time this happened that she might still be confused when piecing together the past and the blurriness of the last few years.

"When's the wedding?"

"This December." Sage goes on excitedly.

She was stuck between a summer or winter wedding, but after seeing a wedding photo shoot in the snow, she was sold on the idea, so now I get to freeze my ass in a few months on our wedding day, but I'll do it with a smile on my face.

I watch them get lost in a conversation and I'm so glad my mom was able to meet Sage, really meet her.

"The wedding sounds like it's going to be beautiful. How's everything… else." She looks between the two of us. "No babies?"

Sage's eyes slightly widen and I let out a soft laugh when she turns to me for help.

"No, Mom. No babies, unfortunately ." I point my last word at Sage as I wrap an arm around her waist and rub her belly. She seems to shrink as we both look at her accusingly, but I pull her closer before kissing her temple. "You know I'm kidding, beloved," I whisper in her ear before turning to my mom.

"She wants to wait a little while. She's exactly where she wants to be in her career so we're going to let her have her time to shine before I make her take a break to have my kids."

Sage smiles from ear to ear, as she does every time I say anything along the lines of her having my kids . I understand why she wants to wait, and she promised me we'll have a kid in four years tops , but I'm not holding her to it. It'll happen when it happens.

When my mom looks over at me, a sad look crosses her face, and she tries to put on a brave face, but I see right through her. "Promise me you guys will record the wedding. Not just the traditional wedding video but everything else. I don't want to miss anything from my baby's big day."

I promise her I will and silently hope for a miracle that she's lucid on our wedding day, too, but the chances of that are slim to none.

"What if…" Sage takes my hand. "We get married today?"

"What?" I look between her eyes, but she only smiles up at me.

"We all want her a part of the wedding and–" She turns to my mom. "–you're lucid right now. We don't know how long this miracle will last or if we'll get another one so we can get married right now."

My mom looks between the two of us before shaking her head. "I can't ask you to do that–"

"You didn't ask." Sage smiles at her, but I take her hand before turning her to me.

"Sage, you put so much work into the wedding. Are you really willing to sacrifice it for…"

"You?" She nods. "Of course I am." How the hell did I become worthy of this woman?

"Are you–"

"I'm sure! We can still have the big wedding in December. I'll still get to wear my big dress and take all of the pictures, it'll be a four-month late after-party for today."

I pull her in for a hug and nuzzle my face in her neck. "Thank you, Dory."

"This works perfectly."

I pull away, and she's still smiling as if she really wants to do this.

"Now you can get the private, intimate wedding you wanted, and I can still have my over-the-top princess wedding." She turns to my mom now. "And you won't miss a second of it."

I refuse to fucking cry, so I swallow the lump down my throat, and we get ready to go to the courthouse. Conveniently, Sage just got done with a photo shoot, so her hair and makeup are done, not that she needed it. I would've married her first thing in the morning with her in her pajamas and bonnet.

She has her agent pick her up a dress since she wanted to save her other dress for the bigger wedding, and her brother gets me a suit. Less than an hour later we're all in the courthouse and I'm genuinely shocked everyone dropped everything to be here. We kept it small. My mom, Sage's parents, and siblings, along with their partners. Moon, Capri, Jordan, and Mel also came.

It's more people than I wanted for private and if I could have it my way it'd just be our parents but Sage at least wanted our friends here. Especially her siblings so I walk down the aisle with my mom on my arm with a smile.

When we reach the alter, my mom kisses my cheek softly before taking a seat, and as I wait for Sage to walk through those doors, I realize what the fuck we're about to do, and my stomach is doing backflips, but I don't know why.

I'm not nervous to marry her. I've known for a while now that I wanted to marry this woman. I think the nerves settle because this is real. We're going to be married , and I cannot fuck it up.

I won't.

I pull in a deep breath, but then the doors swing open, and as everyone stands, I forget to breathe. When Sage said her agent was picking up a quick little backup dress, I should've known it'd still be over the fucking top.

She looks… stunning in her white gown. Her veil trails behind her for what seems like miles, and when my eyes meet hers, my vision starts to blur. I refuse to look away from her, but even if I wanted to, I couldn't. With every step closer she takes, my body screams louder to have her beside me.

Her dad clings to her arm as they make their way down the aisle, and when I notice her bouquet of blue peonies, I look over at my mom with a smile, and she must realize Sage intentionally chose her favorites.

Her dad kisses her forehead before letting me take her hand, and I immediately pull her in for a hug. "I love you so fucking much, Dory."

She laughs softly but when I hear it morphe into a soft cry I pull away and wipe her tears. "You're going to be upset if your makeup is ruined for the pictures."

She laughs harder, and I bring my lips to her.

Someone clears their throat from beside us, pulling Sage away. "People usually wait for me to say ‘kiss the bride'."

Everyone breaks into a laugh before we take a step away from each other. The officiant jokingly asks if we're ready, but before we can say yes, my mom makes her way to us.

I go still, silently fucking hoping she didn't check out on us again, but she apologizes quietly and turns to Sage. "I'm not sure if you have something borrowed, but–" She unclips her pin before handing it to Sage.

It's a lavender S with a white dove, and I immediately recognize it from the pins we gave out at Shanti's funeral.

"I was actually missing something borrowed, thank you."

My mom helps her pin it on the shoulder of her dress and I turn my head away from the crowd as the tears start coming.

"Shanti would have loved you." My mom's voice breaks before she goes on. "You take care of him for me, okay?"

I let my eyes fall shut as Sage promises that she will. I feel a soft kiss on my hand and force myself to look down at my mom. She gives me a small smile before kissing my hand again and making her way back to her seat before either of us can cry anymore.

"Ready?" Sage whispers before wiping my cheek.

"Yeah."

Sage and I don't tear our eyes apart from each other as the officiant starts the wedding, and it's as if we're the only ones in the room. By the time it's time to say our vows, it's clear Sage's excitement is traded for nerves.

"You go first." She whispers to me, and I shake my head at her as I bite back a smile. "Please?"

"No, you go first."

"No!" She whispers a bit louder, and I have to hold back a laugh as she nervously looks around the room.

"You forgot your vows, didn't you, Dory?"

"Of course not!" She looks offended that I even suggested that but a soft laugh still escapes her. "The wedding wasn't for another four months, I didn't get to write the end of mine." She looks like she feels horrible and I reassure her that it's fine before giving in and going first.

"Sage," My eyes start to sting again, and I mumble a curse at how fucking emotional I am. Her brothers are going to bully the shit out of me for this, but I genuinely couldn't care.

"You make me want to be a better person. I promise to always be and give you anything you want. I promise to support every choice you make. Whether it's to try to ride my bike and completely eat shit—"

Her pretty laugh reaches my ears, and I smile down at her at the reminder. She bought me a new bike and then begged me to let her ride it a short distance . Luckily she was fine when she fell since she fell before she even started the damn thing.

"–or to leave the country to model. I'll follow you even when you barely want to look at me."

She still smiles up at me, although a sadder smile touches her lips.

"I promise to never give up on us or you. I love you, Sage. I promise to love you forever. Death will not do us part because even in the afterlife, I'll find you and love you then."

There are a few awes from our family, but I keep my smile on Sage as I wipe her tears before she voices her vows to me.

"Leslie–" She barely starts before breaking into a hysterical laugh. I can't help but laugh beside her as I shove her hand away. I glance over at Moon, and he's dying of laughter. I know this was his damn idea .

"Liam—" She takes my hand again, pulling my gaze back to her. "—I once said you didn't meet my standards, and ever since, I've been eating my words. I hope we're partners in every life. You make me feel like I truly am without fault, and in return, I will remind you that you're beyond worthy of love."

I blink my tears away as she continues.

"You once wrote me a letter promising to give me all of your mornings, even though you hate them, but you have. You do what you say, and you always keep your promises, so I promise to keep this one; I promise to never leave your side. I promise to love you until my last breath, even when you lose your temper or threaten my cats after I refuse to give you what you want."

I let out a soft laugh but quickly clear my throat when a cry climbs up.

"I wanted to add more, but–"

"It's perfect, you're perfect."

When the officiant finally announces for us to kiss, I pull my perfect girl in, and I know for certain that marrying this woman was the best choice of my life.