Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
It was as if she knew.
Lynnea went to Grayson and crawled onto his lap. She held his head between her tiny hands. “Why are you sad?”
“I’m not,” he told her.
She wiped his tears and then rested her head against his chest. The contented sigh she let out was enough for everyone to believe what Lynnea already knew.
Rafe’s heart had found its way back to them.
EPILOGUE
“Your mother would be beside herself,” Luther said to his daughter as he stood next to her. Reid’s decision to wear her mother’s wedding dress was the right one, even though she’d had to battle through alterations. The fabric had aged, but overall it was in good condition. She kept it mostly the same, except for the neckline. While her mother had preferred a higher neck, Reid went with a swoop neck and had the removed fabric turned into her garter and used in her bouquet.
The bouquet was courtesy of her father. He had taken Melanie’s advice and created an indoor greenhouse, growing the flowers Reid wanted on her wedding day. The bridal party carried flowers Reid’s mom had planted many years prior. The pink, white, and orange arrangement of peonies, dahlias, and roses couldn’t have turned out prettier.
In the past year, so much had changed between her and Grayson. When their lives could’ve turned everything upside down, they hadn’t. Reid chalked that up to communication. So many things could’ve gone wrong, such as Nadia thinking Grayson was lying about having Rafe’s heart. That day had been an emotional one, but therapeutic. They cried a lot, laughed a little, and vowed to be a family. It didn’t matter if anyone on the outside understood why former exes became incredibly close; it was what it was. Everyone was happy.
When all was said and done, Grayson sent his letter to UNOS, and Nadia reached out. It wasn’t that they needed confirmation, because they already knew what Grayson had suspected. It was because they eventually wanted to be able to tell the girls and didn’t want anyone saying otherwise.
Nadia approached in her pink off-the-shoulder gown. She gripped Nadia’s hand, smiled, and then kissed Luther on his cheek. He’d become an honorary Pop Pop to two very rambunctious, fun-loving girls who doted on him. For his part, he’d opened his home and heart to Nadia and the girls and happily spent the holidays at the Boltons’ place in Arlington. It was the biggest celebration any of them had been to. The same went for Sydney and Gilbert. She reveled in her new title as Pippy, while Gilbert happily wore a T-shirt that read MY GRANDDAUGHTERS CALL ME POPPY. With four sets of grandparents, the girls were loved unconditionally.
Over the past year, Nadia and Reid had grown close, almost like sisters. Nadia had confided that she loved Kiran but she wasn’t sure if she could love him the way she’d loved Rafe, and at one point she’d encouraged him to move on. He refused. Their relationship hit a new level after Kiran ran in and won the Rafe Karlsson Memorial Cup, to honor Rafe. This year, he’d been assigned Rafe’s number, which Nadia took as a sign, and she finally let the last wall she’d put up crumble to the ground. Kiran spent the night, for the first time, that night. In the new bed and newly painted bedroom at Nadia’s. She called Reid the next morning and told her all about it. Being like sisters and all.
“He’s one lucky guy,” Nadia said about Grayson before heading down the aisle. Reid watched Kiran Dunlap never take his eyes off Nadia. He was a patient man, waiting for the woman he was madly in love with to love him back.
Melanie walked next. She kissed Luther and then Reid, telling her she loved her. When she got to the end of the aisle, she stood there, waiting for her best friend to finally walk down the aisle to wed the man she loved.
Gemma was next to walk. She gave Reid a kiss on her cheek, hugged her Pop Pop, who promised to dance with her later at the reception, and then rushed toward the front of the altar, despite everyone telling her to slow down. Gemma hated the attention and had told Reid a time or two that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be in the wedding. No one was pressuring her to do so. She’d decided this morning she would.
From behind the false wall, Reid could see Grayson. This was important because she wanted to see his reaction to the girls walking down the aisle. After Reid had met and fallen in love with them, asking Nadia, Gemma, and Lynnea to be in the wedding was a no-brainer. Reid and Grayson wanted them there on their special day, and in their lives.