Epilogue To Bossman’s List
We stood on the cliffs of Kalbarri in Western Australia, the spring breeze pushing back the blonde ringlets on either side of my face, demure behind a white veil.
I looked into Langdon’s eyes. Each one of us was locked on the other. He was almost regal in his tuxedo, long hair tied back, posture proud and perfect. Even the majesty of the craggy cliff side and the gorgeous Indian Ocean couldn’t distract us from each other in that moment of our perfect union.
Langdon said, “Before I met you, I wasn’t really living. There was a hole in my heart I just couldn’t fill. Now I know you were the only person who could fill that hole and make me complete. I wasn’t really a man till I met you. My life hadn’t really begun. Now we’re only just beginning our lives together. Nothing before you means anything to me. Besides you and your happiness and our children’s and our grandchildren’s, there is nothing. Just you, just me, just us.”
A joyful tear crept down my cheek. I wanted to look away to hide it, but I just couldn’t turn away from that marvelous face, the face of the man I loved and had always loved and would always love.
I said to Langdon, “I thought that when we met, I’d been running… running from my past, running through my days, running out the clock, running out of steam, running out of time. I’m just so glad that, really, I wasn’t running away from anything, but toward something… someone… truly amazing. Because what I really wanted… and needed… and couldn’t find until you… was love.”
Over Langdon’s shoulder, I noticed Ricardo polishing his fingernails on his lapel and then blowing on them in a cute bit of self-congratulations. I had to admit it was a pretty great line, since I stole it from him.
Our celebrant was a chubby, smiling local judge who smiled broadly without sacrificing any of the dignity of the moment. “I am duly authorized to solemnize this, your marriage, according to the laws of Australia.
“Before Sheryl and Langdon are joined together in marriage in my presence and in the presence of those your family and friends, I am bound as you know to remind you publicly of the solemn, the serious and binding nature of the relationship into which you are about to enter.”
I could feel the joy rising up from our guests, our friends and family, and I couldn’t wait to bask in this moment with them, to celebrate our togetherness, the rare moments we’re given to enjoy with one another.
But that moment was just for us, just for me and Langdon.
“Marriage as most of us understand it is voluntary and is a full commitment of a man to a woman and a woman to a man. It is made in the deepest sense to the exclusion of all others and is entered into with the desire, hope and firm intention that it will last for life.”
As we’d rehearsed, I put the ring on his finger, my hands trembling, mind already doubting my memory.
I said, “I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, Sheryl Francis, take thee, Langdon Cane, to be my lawful wedded husband.” They were the sweetest words I’d ever spoken.
Langdon took my hand in his, sure and simple as he slid that golden band around my quivering white finger.
“I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, Langdon Cane, take thee, Sheryl Francis, to be my lawful wedded wife.”
We looked at each other, and our celebrant glanced at us for a stilted moment before saying, “Well, what’re you waiting for? Have at it!”
The crowd chuckled, and so did we before going in for that solemn kiss, a moment we’d lived and worked for and almost died for, a moment we’d almost missed, a moment that would become the rest of our lives. His tongue was familiar, warm, loving, greeting mine with a new wonder, a new depth, a love even greater than before.
Our lips parted and the crowd’s applause rose and fell before the small violin ensemble played us down the aisle as man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Langdon Cane.
We dallied for a while with our friends and family before retiring into the nearby castle for our lavish reception. This time I really did feel like a princess.
My parents were the first to rush up to us. My mother gave me a big hug while my father gave Langdon a hearty handshake.
“Welcome to the family, Langdon.”
“Good of ya, sir,” Langdon said. “I’ll try not to let you down.”
“Just don’t let Sheryl down,” my mother said, “or you’ll have me to contend with.” Langdon offered her a wink and a nod and a little salute. She turned to give me a little kiss. “Don’t stay out here too long, dear, you’ll catch cold.” She faded back with my father, and I glanced at Langdon with a roll of my eyes. He knew what I was thinking, but also how lucky I was to have parents at all. He looked out over the crowd, and I knew he was imagining seeing his own parents there, perhaps even playing out the moment they would have shared had they survived.
But I also knew what Langdon knew: that then his whole life would have been different, that we probably would never have met, that their sad fate was only one necessary step in a grand plan which had brought us together to forge a family of our own. I’d never met the Canes, but I couldn’t help but imagine that they’d be pleased.
John and Bailey Alister stopped by on their way inside. Both of them were smiling, almost beaming. They had new color in their complexions, and John seemed to have lost a little weight. He looked more handsome and more healthy than I’d ever seen him before.
I asked, “How’s life in the country?”
“Love it!” Bailey was quick to say. “I have a horse of my own! Clip Clop! And I take care of him and clean him and train him every day.”
“That’s right,” John said with a warm and loving smile. “And I’m very proud.”
She smiled. “I’m proud of you too, Daddy.” They hugged, and John turned to me.
But Bailey looked at me and curled her finger at me to draw me in, in the way I remembered Margaret Alister doing. This time, like the last, I had to respond, so I pulled my dress up a bit and knelt down to Bailey. She threw her arms around my neck and squeezed tight. She not merely kissed me, but jammed her face into my cheek, and I could feel the wetness of a single tear.
She whispered into my ear, “Thank you.”
She squeezed tight, and I squeezed even tighter, sharing a big hug with arms a fraction the size of my own.
“I’m hearing good things about Alister Fashions since you took over, Sheryl.”
I stood and looked at Langdon. “I’ve had the two best teachers in the business.”
John chuckled. “You’re the one taking us to school, Sheryl. Your New French Resistance campaign? That was genius, I have to say.”
Langdon said, “Sheryl’s program is putting veterans to work, raising money for PTSD sufferers and the homeless, and it’s the hottest look in Europe. Rippah!”
“You know you’re only encouraging her.”
“That’s just what I want to do.”
“And that kid Ricardo, he’s a real dynamo, huh? The Powerplay website’s a huge hit. Costs are down, ad revenue’s way up, sales are through the roof. There he is.” Ricardo approached us, looking very dapper in a white suit. John wrapped his arm around Ricardo’s shoulder. “Here’s our boy wonder.”
A bit confused, Ricardo said, “Is that a cosplay thing? Because, y’know, we could talk.”
John said, “Just keep working that website.”
I asked John, “How’re the women in Connecticut?”
“I’m in no rush,” John said. “It’s time for me to be a better father, and a better man, before I find a better woman.”
Ricardo fanned his hand in front of his face, feigning a return of the vapors. Shaking his head, he walked away muttering, “Such a waste.”
I glanced out to see a figure in the water out in the distance, a great whale breaching the surface, dangling a moment before falling back into the sea. Then I noticed another, not far from the first. They were a pair, I was certain, as the first two we’d seen months before had been a pair. But it can’t be the same two whales, I told myself, it just couldn’t be possible.
Could it?
They seemed to be dancing, celebrating life, even celebrating our union from afar. I couldn’t help but smile. One thing I knew for sure was that there was much more to life than appeared at a glance. That dream I’d had, of a man I hadn’t met, had proven to be a premonition. The rest, other visions, had merely been that. They’d been wrong, and so they hadn’t come true. I looked at Langdon in a moment of silent reflection, sharing a wordless smile, and I couldn’t help but think, Langdon is true. Langdon is right. We’re right together.
And when they’re just right, dreams really do come true.
~The End~