Epilogue
Christmas Day—the lighthouse
"Tell me again," Sophie said. "Do I throw them or drop them?"
Gracie knelt down next to Sophie and took a handful of rose petals from the basket looped over the little girl's arm. "You scatter them like this." Rose petals fell at their feet in a graceful arc. "See? All you have to do is walk very slowly and scatter the petals into the wind."
"Storm told me that flower girls are terribly important." Sophie's expression was quite serious as befit the subject. "She said that weddings aren't weddings without them."
"Storm is right," Gracie said. "I don't think your daddy and I could possibly get married today if we didn't have you here to lead the way."
Sophie's sober expression broke apart into a smile that turned Gracie's heart inside out. Lately that had been happening at least ten times a day. It seemed that her heart had an infinite capacity for love. The more she loved Noah and Sophie, the more love she had to give to everyone else who crossed her path. Why hadn't anyone ever told her about this amazing phenomenon or was everyone meant to discover it in her own way.
Ruth appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in a bright red wool coat with a huge corsage made up of red poinsettia and white roses pinned to her left shoulder. It fairly screamed "mother of the groom" and made Gracie smile every time she saw it.
"Father Tom wants to know if you're ready," Ruth said as she smoothed a hand over her granddaughters' mass of shiny blond curls. "The wind died down and he would like to take advantage of it."
"We're ready," Gracie said and the two women met eyes over Sophie's head.
"You look so beautiful, Gracie."
Gracie blushed and did a pirouette that made Sophie giggle. "Rachel and the girls really outdid themselves on this one, didn't they?" The dress was floor-length and slim, high-necked with long tight sleeves and a fitted bodice. Laquita, a newlywed now herself, had embroidered seed pearls on the mandarin collar and along the turn-back cuffs.
"The dress is lovely," Ruth said, "but you're the beautiful one." She took a deep breath then continued in a rush. "You've always been special to me, honey. I'm so happy to be part of your family."
There had been a barrier between them since the night Ruth told her and Noah the truth. It was never easy to discover that one of your idols was only a mortal woman after all. Ruth's decisions, born of loyalty and love, had changed the course of their lives. But each time Gracie felt the pain of those lost years, she looked at Sophie's sweet face and the love she felt for the child made her regret and anger fall away. It hadn't been so easy for Noah. It would take a lot of hard work to re-establish a relationship with his mother but the fact that both Noah and Ruth were willing to work on it bode well for a happy future for all of them.
Gracie reached out her hand and a second later the two women were hugging while Sophie tugged at Gracie's skirt, eager to be included. "Mommy," she said, "don't forget about me."
Gracie bent down and kissed the top of her head. "As if that could happen."
"Hate to break up this gabfest," Ben said as he too appeared in the doorway, "but it' s time we got this show on the road."
Ruth hurried outside to claim her place near the makeshift altar.
"Ready?" Gracie asked Sophie who was beginning to look a little nervous.
Sophie nodded. "I'm ready."
"Good luck, little lady," Ben said as Sophie straightened her tiny shoulders and straightened her basket of petals. "We'll be right behind you."
Sophie nodded. "I shall do my best, grandfather," she said then marched out the door.
"Grandfather," Ben said with a shake of his head. "I kind of like the sound of it."
"I'm kind of partial to mommy myself," Gracie said. "We've come a long way, Dad. I'm glad you're here with me today."
"No place else I'd rather be." He cleared his throat, the classic male prelude to an emotional statement. "Your mother would be proud of you, Graciela," he said, his voice cracking in the middle of the sentence. "Just as proud as I am."
"I love you, Dad." A simple declarative sentence that erased a lifetime of pain. It felt good to say it. It felt even better to mean it.
His eyes welled up with tears and he patted her hand. "Come on, Graciela," he said after a moment. "You and Noah have waited long enough."
She slipped her arm through his and a moment later they stepped out into the bright Christmas afternoon sunshine. The lighthouse cast its familiar shadow along the beach and for a moment she was a teenager again, racing across the rocks by the light of the moon to be with the boy she loved.
He was waiting for her now at the end of this rose-strewn path, the boy she had known, the man she would love forever, waiting with his little girl—their daughter—who stood next to him, impatient for their life together as a family to begin. They were all there, Laquita and Rachel and Darnell and Ruth and Don Hasty and Storm and Doctor Jim and Patsy and so many others who loved them and wished them well. Even Gramma Del was there. Gracie could feel her presence like a hug on a cold winter's day.
They took their places in front of Father Tom. "We are here this day to witness a miracle," the priest said as he opened his prayer book. "We are here to witness the birth of a family."
Gracie reached for Noah's hand and for Sophie's, and their life together began at last.
The Idle Point Gazette—December 25—Special Christmas edition
She loves me and she loves my kid and we both love the fact that by the time you finish reading this we'll be a family on paper as well as in our hearts. This time we'll have our friends and family with us to wish us well. We lost eight years of our lives together but every time I see her with my daughter I find myself thanking God that we found our way back home to Idle Point.
So how does this story end? That's easy. It ends the way the best stories always end, with those familiar words that have resonated down through the years and made our children smile.
"And they lived happily-ever-after."
Right here in Idle Point.
Who could ask for more?
~The End~