Epilogue

Celeste

 

“Mom.” I missed hearing Veeta call me Mommy. Why did she have to start real school? Why did the other kids have to butt-in and tell her the word “mommy” was for babies to use, not eight year olds. Damn them!

“Mom. Dad has Peach in a backpack. Stop being such a slowpoke! The turtles are faster than you.” She laughed and repeated her words about turtles under her breath. “Peach wants to see the turtles waddle to the ocean.” She never let up.

Peach. That was not what Skeet and I named our daughter, but I had a feeling no one would ever use her real name Pearle—after Skeet’s grandmother on his father’s side—Corday Remington. Veeta called her Peach from the minute she saw her. “Her cheeks are so full and rosy like the peaches in the orchard.”

That was it, everyone called her Peach. She was probably going to be confused when she started school and the teacher called out Pearle Remington on the first day of class.

Oh no. I didn’t even want to think about her leaving the nest yet.

She was as unexpected as everything else in our life. Skeet and I got married immediately following his proposal and my acceptance. He had a town judge waiting on standby along with James and Andy who served as our witnesses that night. I hadn’t even worried about excluding everyone from our union because Skeet assured me that everyone would be fine with our semi-elopement. That was true because a big celebration out at the farm had already been planned. I had no idea how perfect the matching mother-daughter dresses I had sewn for my future resort-wear boutique would come in handy.

Even a proper honeymoon was set up for us at my favorite Tybee cottage. It was when we were alone there again that I found out that Skeet had purchased it when it had been a bit of a wreck and had it redone by some locals that refurbished old cottages. It went along with another proposal I had only heard a tidbit about when I said yes to marriage.

“The Beauclaires are backing a wine shop for me and it just happens to sit a few doors down from a space that would be perfect for your own dress boutique.”

Talk about being put on the spot. “If I say no then you live here and I live on the farm?” I had to ask even though I was beyond thrilled to live my dream. I was concerned about leaving my family support system for Veeta...and my job.

“If that’s what you decide...” Skeet’s face sagged a bit.

“I want to be with you.” I was quick with words to bring a smile back to his face. “Veeta and I belong with you... Besides, I think it’s about time my family comes back to Tybee for vacations.”

“Let me show you just how happy you’ve made me.” Those were Skeet’s last words as he took me to an all-time high...and gave me our little Pearle...Peach.

“What are you grinning about? Thinking about your boyfriend?”

“He’s my husband, Clancy.” I shook my head.

“Same thing. Veeta sent me to get you.” I wasn’t surprised.

I needed to get moving before the rest of my family came to put the squeeze on me. As I expected, my parents bought a place not too far from us with enough room to house Conrad and Clancy and their families or guests. I was surprised that Pete, Skeet’s pop, made Tybee his permanent home after selling off his automotive shop and starting a new one down the road from our two businesses that were doing so well.

I loved my resort-wear boutique and thought of Martina often since I had framed some of our old sketches and hung them throughout the shop. I, also, loved Skeet’s wine shop that was only steps away and I enjoyed being part of some of his events, using my sommelier skills. What I loved the most was that we had a great staff of people working for us that allowed us to be available to our children.

“Yes, I know the sea turtles are making their crawl,” I said to Conrad who was walking through the front door with his father-figure face in place.

Veeta was so serious when it came to those turtles. I remembered the first time she came home telling us all about them and asking me to sign a field trip slip to go see the nests. “Lights out at ten o’clock. The turtles can get confused and go toward the city lights instead of the ocean.” We tried to tell her that we weren’t anywhere near the nests but it didn’t matter, we needed to turnout our front porch light from May to October. Skeet finally installed a timer that shut the outside lights off every night at ten pm. She was relieved and stopped complaining.

“Mom! Finally!” Veeta squealed as she saw me walking up to our little family group ready to hit the beach.

I smiled as I neared a gorgeous Skeet wearing a backpack that was probably breaking his back. Our little Peach was two years old and perfectly capable of walking on the beach. However, she was even more active than Veeta and we didn’t want her wandering off or disturbing the baby turtles trying to reach the water.

“You look beautiful, Celeste. How are you feeling?” Skeet pulled me in for an incredible kiss that had Veeta saying “yuck” and Peach making puckering kissing noises.

“I feel like those waddling turtles...” I patted my ever-growing belly. “This better be a boy or you will just have to resign yourself to the fact that you were meant to be surrounded by females.” Skeet gave me another kiss. “That won’t make me change my mind. This nest is closed after this one.”

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Veeta was pushing us toward the beach while Peach said “Go go go go!”

“Imagine another one this time next year pushing us around.”

I laughed and took Skeet’s hand as we made our way down a few blocks to reach the sand with Veeta leading the way. I was so lucky. I got to spend the rest of my life with the dark-haired boy with peach leaf green eyes who grew up to be a gorgeous man and perfect father.

 

The End