Epilogue
Luke
One Year Later
We were back in snowy Colorado, and it was as if the weather had played along perfectly to make this day magical. The snow had fallen all week, but it hadn’t been storming. The tiny town of Dillon was transformed into a winter wonderland without any of the roads being closed, not stopping outside guests from attending our wedding.
I stood at the end of the aisle, wearing my penguin tux and fiddling with a handkerchief that my mom had pushed into my hands before I had stepped up here.
“It’s for the tears,” she had said.
“I’m a guy, mom,” I had responded. “I don’t cry at weddings.”
My dad had put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, there are two situations where it’s perfectly fine for a man to cry. At the birth of his children and at the wedding.” I could relate to that. When Nathan had been born, I hadn’t been able to keep my emotions in check at all. The miracle of birth, seeing Anna go through the pregnancy and the excruciating pain to bring my son into the world and how perfect little Nate had been had brought tears to my eyes.
“When you see her, you’ll know what we mean,” my mom had said.
I was nervous. The church was filled with people that I only knew a handful of, and I felt on display, standing in front for everyone to judge me. Soon, Anna would be here.
I wanted nothing more than to be married to the love of my life, the woman of my dreams. Anna and I had been together for about a year. It wasn’t very long but I had known that night in the cabin before we had had the standoff with Sam, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. On top of that, we had had a child together. We lived together, and we were the perfect little happy family. Who would have thought that a relationship as beautiful and strong and perfect as ours could be born from the adversity we had both faced? We had both been on the run, and somehow, we had run into each other’s arms.
Lizabeth came into the church, and she had Nate in her arms. My little boy was three months old, and he was already smiling. She brought him to me, and I took him from her, rocking him. He looked up at me with the bluest eyes and flashed me a gummy smile.
“There’s my big man,” I said and kissed his head.
“Are you ready?” Lizabeth asked.
I nodded. I was as ready as I would ever be to make Anna my wife.
Lizabeth was Anna’s best friend and I could see why. She was solid and down to earth, a woman Anna and I could both rely on. She had been nothing but a help when Anna had been stuck with me in the cabin, and now she had offered her services as a babysitter during the wedding and for the honeymoon. She walked with Nathan to the pews where she sat down next to her boyfriend, Travis.
I turned my attention back to the crowds. My parents sat close to the front and they were smiling at me. Frank sat close to them and he looked happy. In fact, everyone looked happy. And I was happy, too.
Since we had left the cabin after the shootout with Sam, everything had changed. Anna and I had gone back to New York where we had been welcomed by Frank with open arms. He had sat me down later that week, and he’d told me he was sorry for how he had misjudged me, for what he had put me through, and he had thanked me for saving his life.
“I am forever indebted to you,” he’d said. “You saved my life when I had been more than willing to take yours. Loyalty, integrity, and honor like that is hard to find, and I would be glad to call you my son.”
Having Frank’s blessing had been a wonderful feeling.
Anna had taken a job as a Criminal Psychologist, doing what she had studied. She was good at her job, fighting crime on the right side of the law. Frank was still a mafia boss, and Anna turned a blind eye to what he was doing because their relationship now was what she had always wanted it to be. We saw Frank and both my parents very often, and when Nathan had been born, they had teamed up and celebrated it with a party where so many people had been invited I had barely known anyone attending. And I hadn’t cared. I had wanted to shout to the world about my son being born.
After Anna had taken her job, I had felt lost for a while, not knowing what to do. I had dropped out of my degree. I had a criminal record and life had seemed like a dead-end regarding my career. It was Anna who had pointed out how much I loved the outdoors, and it had given me the idea to open my own business. I did outdoor courses and trips, and I had a little camping shop on the side. I traveled to Colorado every now and then with a group of people, teaching them how to survive, and I was happier than I had ever been. I had picked up my studies again, doing them online, and I was working on a degree in Business Management.
If it hadn’t been for Anna, I might have still been stuck in the dingy little cabin in Colorado, living an isolated life far away from the people who loved and cared for me. Finding her in the snow that night had changed my life for the better.
It felt great to be back in Colorado again. The little town of Dillon was where Anna and I had bonded so much, and it was because of our start here that we had decided to come back for the wedding.
The music started, and Anna came down the aisle. She looked like a vision in white. Her dress was form fitting, hugging her curves and flaring out at the bottom. It was so she could look this good on her wedding day that Anna and I had decided we would wait until after Nathan was born before we tied the knot. Anna had a veil over her face, and Frank walked her down the aisle toward me.
I felt a lump rise in my throat, and I realized my parents had been right. There was something about Anna walking toward me, made up especially for me, ready to commit to me forever that moved me to tears. We were taking the next step as a couple and come hell or high water, we would be together.
Frank reached me, and he put Anna’s hand in mine. He lifted her veil and kissed her on the cheek. He turned to me.
“I can’t think of a better man to take my daughter off my hands,” he said. “I nearly made a very grave mistake, a year ago. You were the one that saved me from it and that ultimately brought my daughter back to me. I do not know a happier man than I am today.”
“Daddy,” Anna said, and her eyes welled up with tears.
“Don’t cry, honey,” Frank said. “This is a glorious day. Marry your man, and then, we celebrate.”
Frank walked back to his seat and Anna looked at me. She was radiant.
“You are the most beautiful bride that will ever walk the face of this earth,” I said.
“Charmer,” Anna said, but she was blushing.
The priest called the ceremony to order, and we started.
After we said our vows, Anna and I kissed, and the church erupted in cheers. Anna and I were both laughing and crying, and we headed down the aisle together with flower petals raining down on us, celebrating our union as husband and wife.
Back in New York, we were on Frank’s protection list. Despite his daughter’s new profession, he was still the mafia boss, calling the shots in the underground world, but everything had changed. Frank had gone back to what it used to be, to honor and loyalty and pride and not just mindless killing. And he did everything in his power to keep his business away from us. He respected that it was a life that we didn’t want anything to do with, and he was adamant that Nathan would grow up sheltered and innocent until he was ready to make his own choices.
The respect we received from Frank stills surprised me from time to time. It was so different than what I had experienced from him when I had worked for him. But people had the capacity to change, and that was the beauty of life.
Anna wrapped a fur shawl around her shoulders, and we headed out into the snow with the photographer to take our photos.
“These are going to be stunning,” I said.
“I hope so,” Anna said, smiling and posing. “It’s white on white with my dress and all the snow.”
“It’s beauty on beauty,” I commented, and Anna laughed.
“I hope you’re going to stay this charming,” she said.
I kissed her, and the photographer snapped a few pictures.
“For you, my love, I will give the world,” I said.
When the photos were taken, and we finally had a moment alone, Anna pressed her body against mine, and we stood, wrapping up in each other, relishing in our closeness.
“I can’t believe we’ve come this far,” Anna said.
I nodded. “I can’t, either. We had a hell of a journey to get here.”
She looked up at me. “And we have a journey ahead of us, too.”
“I agree. We have your dad and my parents. And Nathan.”
“Lizabeth and Travis.”
“And each other.”
Anna kissed me, and I lost myself in her. My body tightened, my dick hardening but that would have to wait until later when we were away on our honeymoon, and I could take Anna and make her mine.
“We have to get back in there,” Anna said after we had made out for a while.
“Let’s go celebrate with our family,” I said and took Anna’s hand. She looked at me, and I looked at her, smiling.
“Ready?” I asked.
“With you by my side, always,” Anna said, and we walked through the double doors that led into the reception, together.
THE END
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