Page 79 of Then and Now
“I’m not embarrassed, baby, and you shouldn’t be, either.”
“I’m not,” I protest, my hands coming up to rest on his chest. “I’ve never been embarrassed by my sexuality and I’m not about to be now. I just don’t need my friends shouting it out where anyone can hear.”
“I get it. I want to keep you and your orgasms all to myself, anyway.”
I smirk up at him. “Possessive much?”
Leo drops a kiss onto my lips. “Maybe I am, so what? You’ve been mine for over twenty years, Serena. Even if we weren’t together the whole time. I loved you then, and I love you now. And I promise I’ll love you forever.”
Epilogue I
Leo
Serena’s dad passed away about two months after they reunited. In those weeks leading up to his death, he stayed in Dogwood Cove so that the two of them could have as much time together as possible. Serena’s mom came out for a week, and seeing the three of them talk and reach a point of peace and acceptance with everything was inspiring.
It also gave us time to throw together a wedding at city hall with Ethan officiating. Serena’s dad was able to walk her down the aisle and join us for a small reception at Camille’s café. As much as I wanted to give Serena her dream wedding, when she confessed the only thing important would be her dad attending, we knew what we had to do.
“Hey husband.”
I’ll never get tired of hearing that.“Hey wife,” I say as I turn around to see Serena walking toward me, a platter full of burgers and chicken in her hands. I take it from her, stealing a kiss in the process. “You ready for chaos?”
“If by chaos you mean all of our friends, your cousins, and everyone’s kids descending on us, then yes. I’m ready.”
Two years ago, I moved back to Dogwood Cove with my daughter, fully believing I would be a single dad forever. I never counted on finding Serena here. But today we’re celebrating our reunion with a barbecue. Everyone’s coming: my aunt, uncle, and cousins, plus their significant others, and all of Serena’s friends, plus their families. It’s going to be loud and busy, and I can’t wait. Violet has been running around all morning, asking every two minutes how much longer until everyone arrives. She’s got some hero worship going with Reid and Abby’s daughter Layla and loves to dote on Summer and Ethan’s little guy Sloan.
“They’re here!” Violet’s shout echoes through the house, all the way to the backyard, and we both chuckle. To say she’s overcome her shyness would be an understatement. Violet is a confident, kind, social butterfly of a girl who still loves to dance.
Not long after that, the yard is full of our loved ones. Beer and other drinks are handed out, kids are running around with popsicles, and Serena is in her element, laughing with all of her friends.
“Hey man, you ready for a rematch tomorrow?” I turn at the sound of Wyatt’s voice. Paige’s husband is a total adrenaline junkie, and the owner of an adventure tourism company in town. On the last weekly trail run the guys all do that I was able to join, he challenged me to a race on one of the local rock climbing routes. It was too close to call, so we’ve got a redo scheduled for this weekend.
“You know it. Are you ready to admit defeat? I maintain that my hand reached the top first.”
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, we’ll settle this on the rock.” Finn drapes his arms around me and Wyatt’s shoulders. Out of all the guys, he’s the one I’m closest to for some reason. “Today, we eat and drink, and tomorrow we climb. Well, you climb. I don’t.”
Good-natured laughter follows. Finn has always taken our ribbing about his distaste for outdoor sports well, half the time he’s the one who’s making the jokes.
“How you ever reached the decision to move to a small town where outdoor recreation is such a big part of life, I will never understand,” Ethan chimes in.
“Best decision of my life.”
“Same here,” Wyatt adds.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I say, lifting my bottle of beer. We all tap them together and take a drink.
“Daddy, is it time?”
At the exact same time, all five of us guys hush Violet with a quiet “shh.” My eyes dart around and thankfully, Serena is on the other side of the yard, oblivious to what’s going on.
“Almost, sweetheart. But you gotta stay quiet, remember? Rena doesn’t know what we’re doing.”
“I know, Daddy.” Violet nods solemnly. “I didn’t even tell Layla.”
“That’s good because she can be a real chatterbox,” Reid mutters cheerfully. He should know, it’s his stepdaughter.
“Yup,” Violet says, turning to Reid with wide eyes. “Last week she told me all about how she heard her mom makin’ strange noises and sayin’ your name in a super weird way in the middle of the night, but when she went to your room to see what was wrong, the door was locked, and when she knocked, you used a…a —” Violet cups her hands around her mouth “— agrown-upword.”
Reid turns bright red as the rest of us fight desperately to hold back our laughter.
