Chapter Thirteen

 

*** EPILOGUE – THREE MONTHS LATER ***

 

* TRENT *

 

“Aaaaand that’s a wrap!” I said, dramatically closing the front door of Megan’s brand new art gallery and locking the deadbolt with a flourish. I turned to look at Megan, whose cheeks were pink with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure. She was standing in between Logan and Julia, and was holding their now six month old baby girl, Maisie. The sight of her holding a baby made my heart skip a beat, especially knowing that we were next.

“Girl, you cleaned up tonight!” Julia said, sweeping her hands in a wide gesture to indicate the gallery walls, which were more than half-empty at this point.

“Thanks,” Megan said, still sounding a bit nervous even though the grand opening event was officially over. “I guess I didn’t expect so many people to actually show up.”

“Trent and I have been telling you not to worry,” Logan said, walking over to grab a fresh bottle of champagne from an ice bucket set up at the end of an hors d’oeuvres table. “We knew the resort guests would love your art. And this is just the beginning. You’re going to have to paint faster, because your work is only going to go up in demand.”

The blush on Megan’s face deepened, but her smile widened as well. “I’m not sure how much faster I can paint, but I’ll try. I can’t say thank you enough to all of you for your support. This gallery is truly a dream come true.”

“Well then,” Julia said, reaching to take baby Maisie from Megan’s arms. “We should have a toast to dreams come true. You haven’t had a single sip of champagne all night! Time to let loose and relax.”

Megan looked over at me with a question in her eyes, and I nodded. It was time to tell our best friends our good news. I couldn’t keep a stupid grin off my face as Megan took a deep breath and announced, “I’m not going to be drinking any champagne for a while.”

For several beats, there was only silence in the gallery as Julia and Logan tried to process what Megan had just said. Then Julia shrieked in delight, causing Maisie to look up at her mama with concerned eyes.

“Are you serious?” Julia asked. “You’re…”

“Pregnant,” Megan confirmed. “Eight weeks today. We haven’t told anyone since it’s so early, but everything is looking good so far.”

Logan set the bottle of champagne back into the ice bucket and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be. Congrats you two.” He came over and gave me a huge handshake, then pulled me into a big bear hug. Julia was already smothering Megan in a hug, and both women were wiping tears of joy from their eyes.

“This is so exciting!” Julia gushed. “Our kids will be so close in age. It’ll be like having cousins!”

“Which is a really good thing,” Logan said with a resigned sigh, “Since it doesn’t look like my brother’s going to settle down and have kids any time soon.”

“You never know,” I said. “He’s visiting next month, right? Maybe he’ll fall for a local island girl, just like you and I did.”

Logan snorted. “Zach? Fall for someone on this island. Doubtful.”

I shrugged. It didn’t matter much to me what Zach Evans did, but I had learned one thing from the last several months.

“Never say never,” I admonished. “Life often gives you the best surprises when you least expect them.”

I smiled at Megan, who smiled back at me and bit her bottom lip in that adorable way she did when she was a bit nervous. I knew she was still recovering from the adrenaline high of watching people pour into her gallery and scrutinize her work, but I had a feeling she was going to be an expert at holding art showings soon. She’d been so personable tonight as she spoke with people about her art, and everyone had loved her. She was a natural at this sort of thing.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the hors d’oeuvres table. “Even though you can’t toast with champagne right now, you should at least raise a cupcake in honor of a successful night.” I handed her a strawberry champagne cupcake—what else? The whole event had, of course, been catered by Julia’s bakery—and I kissed her lips softly. Then I leaned to whisper in her ear in a low voice that only she could hear.

“But eat that cupcake quickly, because I can’t wait to get you home and start a more intimate celebration of your success tonight, if you know what I mean.”

She blushed again, the pleasure evident on her face. I grabbed a cupcake of my own—chocolate whiskey flavor for me—and took a bite as Julia and Logan began to excitedly ask questions about when Megan’s due date was and whether we were hoping for a boy or a girl. I let them talk, munching my cupcake as I stared unashamedly at Megan, taking in her beauty. It didn’t matter whether this baby was a boy or a girl. We were going to be having many more, and I was sure at some point we’d get at least one of each. And I hoped they all looked like their mama, because she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the quarter I always kept with me, just for the purpose of making on the fly decisions. With one swift movement, I tossed the quarter into the air and over into the trash can on the other side of the table.

It’s not that I wanted to make a habit of throwing money away. It was just that I wasn’t going to need that quarter anymore. I’d already made the biggest, best decision of my life when I asked Megan to marry me and have our children. Any other decisions after that were just minor details that didn’t truly matter.

I was so glad I’d come home to find Megan again, because now life was truly beginning. And what a life it was.

 

* * *

 

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