Epilogue

Roxie

One year after our engagement…

I smiled as my dad wiped his tears with a handkerchief before shoving it back into his pocket as quickly as possible. Like if he did it fast enough, no one would notice he was crying. Or that he had been doing this same routine for approximately the last month. He would compose himself but whenever he looked over at me, his eyes would well up all over again. Sometimes he would own up to it, but usually he tried to play it off like something was in his eye or he was suddenly afflicted with seasonal allergies. Regardless, every time it happened, it touched my heart. I had always been close to my dad, but I hadn’t ever really thought about it until I was getting closer to my wedding day. As the days ticked by and the reality settled in, I began to think about my dad and everything he meant to me.

I thought back to Thea's wedding, and the box of junk he brought me from my old room. At the time it seemed so silly. It was just a box of old things from my childhood, and I didn't understand why he had kept them, or why he had brought them to me. I especially didn't understand why, six months later when I went back to Maple Grove for the first time, my bedroom wasn't a storage room lined with shelves, but the same as always. Now I felt like I was beginning to understand. It didn't matter to him how old I was, or where I went. I would always be his little girl, and he would always protect me. Keeping my room the same was one way he did just that. Even though I had left, and essentially slashed-and-burned the life I left behind, I wasn't really gone. My home was still there waiting for me, and he knew that as long as he kept my bedroom, he could tell me it was all OK. That I could always move back home if I needed to. The decision to move to New York was made in a moment that was painful and chaotic and confusing, and he didn't want me to have to live with that decision for the rest of my life if I didn't want to. This way, he knew I could always come back and start over again.

Now, my old bedroom was gone. A month ago, we took the final piece of my childhood out of it. Even though I had been in my early twenties when I last lived there, I would always look back at it as my childhood home. I was an adult, and yet my life hadn't really begun yet. Now it had. Now that it was no longer needed, Dad had painted over the soft pink paint on the walls, and took down the mirror I had looked into a million times and wondered about my future. It was now my mother's sewing room.

When we were younger, my sisters and I shared bedrooms. Three of us to one room and two to the other. Then my mother gave up her sewing room, so Marcia could have her own room. It became the privilege of the oldest to move into that room and have it to herself. Then Marcia went to college out-of-state and got married. Then Janet. For the first time, my sisters and I had our own rooms. I never changed rooms. I just stayed where I was and allowed the others to shift around. Then Cynthia got married. Her room became an office, so my father could work somewhere other than right next to the TV in the living room. Then Kimberly. Her room became a guest room. I just stayed. I went to college close enough, so I lived at home. I stayed at home after graduating while looking for that one dream job I thought would make life perfect. It wouldn't occur to me until later that I was going to have to leave home to find my life.

My parents had begun their marriage with just the two of them in a house that must have seemed cavernous and empty. Within a few years, it was overflowing with five daughters. Then it began to change again, but in reverse. Now it was fully theirs again.

"All of my daughters are going to be married now," my father said. “I’m so happy.”

Another tear slipped down his cheek. He brushed it away.

"I know, Dad. I'll always be here for you. I love you."

The music rose up around us and we each took a breath. I tightened my hand around my bouquet. Thea had picked wildflowers for me from the field where we had played when we were little girls. They were the same type of flowers we would weave into chains to wear in our hair and clasp in front of us as we pretended to be brides. But this time, it would be real. I held the flowers close to my heart as we slowly walked down the aisle of the chapel to where Luca waited for me. Thea stood with Terri to the side of the altar, her pregnant belly straining against the navy blue bridesmaid dress she wore. If I closed my eyes, she was still eight years old, and we were sitting here in this chapel on Halloween night.

Her smile was the same it had always been. Only this time, we weren't planning her wedding years in the future. She was married and expecting her first child, and I was walking toward a man I was ready to start my life. The chapel had never been in my plans, but that was what made it so perfect. Petty bullshit had kept me from coming home for so long. I was afraid to come back and admit to myself, and everyone else, the failures and mistakes that had driven me away. I didn't feel that way anymore. I didn't have to hide away or worry about what anyone else thought.

I was home.

********

Luca picked up a chocolate-covered strawberry from the tray on the hotel nightstand and brought it over to me.

"Strawberry?" he asked.

His voice was soft and low. There was no one else around. No one to hear us. The words he spoke belong to me alone, and I reveled in the thought of us sharing that blissful connection for the rest of our lives. No matter where we were or how many people were around us, I knew all I would have to do was look into my husband's eyes, and we would be alone. The only two people who mattered. There was a space we shared that no one else could get to and I couldn't help but get lost in it.

"Yes," I whispered and parted my lips to take a bite.

I almost moaned out loud as the sweet flavor of the ripe fruit washed over my tongue. Before I could take another bite, Luca pulled me closer to him, kissing me deeply. I darted my tongue between his lips and he groaned in response. The sound shot straight to my core, and I felt my inner thighs grow warm from our sweetened kiss. I took the berry from his hand.

"Do you want some?" I asked.

Luca opened his eyes and nodded. As I lifted the strawberry toward him, some of the juice dripped onto my stomach. The warmth of Luca's mouth covered it instantly as he gripped my hips and dipped down to lick the sticky trail away. Feeling his mouth so close made my walls pulse as if they were seeking him. I pushed my body closer toward him and he took the berry from my hand, setting it back down on the tray. We didn't need anything else.

Still holding my hips, Luca slowly licked from the center of my stomach up to my breasts. The bikini top I had on from our dip in the ocean earlier pressed them together, and he dipped his tongue between them, licking them playfully. I reached up and released the tie around my neck and the hook at my back. The fabric fell away and freed my breasts. My nipples were already taught as he drew one into his mouth, sucking on it eagerly and flicking the tip of his tongue across its pink, sensitive peak. The sensation made me tremble, and I parted my thighs, eager for his touch.

When he was satisfied with kissing my breasts, Luca made his way up my neck. His touch still had the same powerful effect on me. A single look from him was enough to make me feel like I was melting. A simple brush of his fingertips left me trembling and aching for him. Fortunately, my husband was not one to leave me unsatiated. Every bit of arousal he awakened in me, he fulfilled with unbridled passion and devotion.

I parted my lips as Luca traced them with his fingertips. I kissed his skin, gently nipping at his fingers as I did so. He leaned forward and replaced the digit with his mouth, kissing me fiercely as his hands worked the ties of my bathing suit bottoms. I surrendered to the desire he ignited in me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and climbed into his lap. He pulled my bathing suit bottom away and eased me forward, settling me on top of him. The ready heat of my core cradled his growing erection and I rocked my hips against it. The combination of the hardness of his shaft and the friction of his bathing suit between us sent shivers of pleasure through me and I groaned as I began to roll my hips in tight circles.

Luca swept his tongue along my slightly parted lips and I opened them, coaxing his tongue into my mouth again so that he could explore me deeper. He already knew me. He knew every inch of me. But I never tired of his enthusiastic explorations. As I continued to grind my pussy into his erection, he ran his fingers from my ankles up to my legs to my hips and then back down again.

“Stand up,” he whispered.

I didn't want to give up being in his lap and feeling his hardening erection under me, but I did as he commanded nonetheless. When I was standing in front of him, Luca slipped off the edge of the cushioned bench and onto his knees on the floor. He nuzzled my stomach with his face and drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with me just as I had done with him countless times. I still loved the smell of him when he first got out of the shower and the sweetness of his clean shirts against his skin. Now, though, I didn't want anything but him. I watched him push the waistband of his swim trunks down off his hips as he kissed along my belly and brought his mouth right above my clit. When his tongue touched me, my head dropped back, and I groaned in response, but quickly looked down again, not wanting to miss anything he was doing.

Watching him touch and lick me had become one of my guiltiest pleasures. When I watched him, I wasn't only enjoying the physical sensations my body experienced with every brush of his fingertips and flick of his tongue. I also felt an intense, erotic pleasure from seeing the pure joy he took from indulging in me, and the ecstasy of us coming together that was beyond anything we had ever experienced with anyone else.

One of Luca’s hands rested on my hip while he took the other and wrapped it around his shaft. Seeing his hand gliding up and down his engorged cock sent my arousal spiraling up even higher, and I parted my thighs, rocking my pelvis forward to grant him easier access to more of the hot, wet curves of my body. I watched him hungrily as he stroked himself, mimicking the movements of his tongue on my clit with his hand. My hips began to rock slightly, as I responded to each of his strokes with tiny involuntary thrusts. His pace increased, and just before I felt like I was going to go over the edge of oblivion, Luca stopped. He took his mouth away from my body and stood up. To my delight, he stood in front of me and continued to run his hand along his length, reaching forward with the other to take hold of one of my breasts and massage it gently. The pad of his thumb rolled over my nipple and I felt like my body was humming with anticipation.

Luca took me by the waist, guiding us to switch places, before turning and pushing me forward onto my hands on the bench. I gasped, feeling a new rush of desire flow through me as I lifted my hips, presenting myself to him. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched Luca lean back and admire the view of my open, waiting body. He dipped his fingertips into me again and spread my slick fluids over every inch of my wet pussy to ensure I was fully prepared for him.

Stepping forward, Luca pressed the velvet head of his cock against my pussy and massaged it, allowing it to rub against my sensitive folds and dip into me. Now that we were married, we no longer bothered with condoms. We shared our bodies fully and without limitations. Feeling his bare cock inside of me was exquisitely different than anything I had felt before. It was a more pleasurable and intense sensation than I could have ever imagined. I relished that feeling, but I couldn’t take it anymore now. I arched my back to expose even more of my body for Luca to stroke and tease. I took one of my hands off the bench in front of me and slid it between my thighs to sweep my fingertips over my swollen clit. I moaned, my eyes fluttering closed as the combined sensations of his cock and my fingers rolled through me.

When he saw me touching myself, Luca growled. Without hesitation, he grabbed my hips firmly with both hands and sank into me with one hard thrust. I moaned at the sudden, intense feeling as Luca filled me so completely it was almost painful, thanks to the angle offered by our position. Luca wrapped his arms around me and grabbed my breasts in his hands. He slammed into me a few more times from behind before lifting me up in front of him, leaving my back pressed against his chest and my hips molded back into his.

Luca wrapped one arm around my waist to hold me steady as he adopted a fast, hard rhythm. His knee came between my legs and eased them apart, and he used his free hand to grab onto my thigh and push forward, guiding me back onto the bench. Each hard thrust hit something inside of me, creating waves of sensation delicately balanced between pain and pleasure. I continued to stroke myself, but soon found myself wanting more of my husband’s attention. I took my hand away from my body and turned around, slipping my fingers into his mouth, allowing him to taste my wetness.

When I leaned forward again, he replaced my fingers on my clit with his own, masterfully tracing it in tight circles with just the right amount of pressure. Within seconds I could feel myself rushing headlong into a powerful orgasm.

"Harder," I groaned, arching my back.

Luca complied hungrily and as the room filled with the rhythmic sound of our bodies, I climbed higher and higher. His movements became almost frantic as primal sounds erupted from his chest. We crashed against each other, over and over again, until both of us finally cried out in release. I could feel his seed spilling inside me as each of my spasms met a pulse of his cock.

My foot slipped from the edge of the bench and I hung over it limply, panting and gasping for breath, my hands pressed into the cushion in an attempt to provide some kind of stability to my quivering body. Luca leaned forward, draping himself over me, wrapping himself entirely around me. I felt him kissing my shoulder and back as I turned my head to kiss his cheek.

Our bodies seemed to give out on us and we both slowly melted down onto the floor. The cool tile soothed our skin as I sprawled across him lazily. Outside the pristine white beaches and turquoise waters of our tropical honeymoon was waiting for us, but I had no urge to venture outside. Not yet. I didn't need anything else.

A lifetime of Luca.

This was everything.

THE END