Page 84 of Passing Notes
I’d never try to usurp Morgan’s role as their mother. But I wanted today to be special for the kids too.
“Let’s go,” Sadie ordered. “Time and preachers wait for no man—or woman. Y’all, I have no idea how that saying actually goes. But the bottom line is we’ve got a wedding to get started.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I turned away from the mirror to find them all watching me, with huge smiles lighting up their beautiful faces.
“I’m beyond thrilled for you,” Molly declared. “You’re gorgeous, but more important, you look happy—truly happy—and it’s a sight to behold.”
I pulled her into a hug. “I love you, Molls.”
She squeezed me back. “Love you too. I’ll see you out there.”
Willa pulled me into a quick hug of her own. “We love you,” she whispered. Come on, Hills, let’s move out.” Sadie and Gracie followed behind her out the door.
It was just me and Sasha. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”
“I can’t wait! We’ll have another day for our family to celebrate now—your and Dad’s anniversary.” She looked up at me with hopeful eyes. “We can add that to our family traditions, right?”
“Darn right, honey. Let’s go.”
We found our way to the old red barn out behind the house and stopped to take it all in. Lavender, sweetly scented and planted in perfect purple rows, led all the way to the horizon with the Smoky Mountains standing at the end.
Placed in the middle of it all—in the spot Nick and I had, ahem, rediscovered a couple weeks back—was a wooden arch covered in pale pink roses and wound with shimmering tulle ribbons that billowed in the breeze.
White chairs filled with family and friends sat in the spaces between the lavender. Everyone turned to look as I flipped the music on and the soft notes of Pachelbel’s Canon in D drifted over the flowered field.
Nick spotted us and waved, beckoning us closer, urging us on. I watched the play of emotions cross his face as, hand in hand, Sasha and I moved toward him, step by step heading into the future finally within our reach.
The shadows in my heart were gone. I’d let everything go to shine in the sun.
EPILOGUE
NICK
Only nerds and suck-ups go to prom, Nick. Of course I don’t want to go.
Would you like to do it in a lavender field instead? - HB
“Is it obnoxious that I’m wearing my wedding dress?” Clara wrinkled her adorable nose as she studied her reflection in the tinted window of the black stretch limousine parked in front of our house.
It was a toss-up as to which of our two houses we’d live in after we got married. My pool and huge backyard had been the deciding factor. She reluctantly agreed to leave her yard and porch behind, and her house was currently up for sale.
“No, you look fucking beautiful.” I stepped behind her and dropped a kiss to the back of her neck.
“Thank you. And who says you can only wear your wedding dress once?”
“Certainly not me.” I chuckled as I took in the vision standing before me. She was beautiful, though instead of the pale pink cowgirl boots she’d worn on our wedding day, she wore gold, strappy high-heeled shoes. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a sexy bun, and I figured maybe she thought the veil would have been too much to chaperone Green Valley High’s senior prom.
“Good. Okay, then is it obnoxious that I rented a stretch limo and made you buy me a corsage?” Her lips twisted up in a grin as she turned to face me.
“No, not at all,” Gracie deadpanned. “All of this is totally normal.”
I held my fingertips an inch apart. “Maybe a little bit. Tiny,” I teased her. “Miniscule.”
“Hmph. You know what?” She spun in a circle. “I don’t even care.” Her giggle was adorable and infectious and also unprecedented. Clara Jean Hill was not a giggler, but Clara Easton was, and I loved it.
“You shouldn’t care what anyone thinks. You look beautiful, Mrs. Easton, and tonight is going to be fun. Don’t listen to them.”
“I always knew I liked you, Weston.” She reached out and booped his nose with a grin. “And new rule—I want everyone to call me Mrs. Easton all night, even you, Nick.”