“He sounds like a great guy.”
“The absolute best.” My dad looks at the interviewer and smiles in a way that seems like he’s looking right at me. “Carly and I used to joke that he was the kid who knew what to do in every situation. He was Just Ford. Humph.” Another smile as a memory clearly flashes through my dad’s mind by the far-off look in his eyes and the softening smile.
“What does that mean?”
“That was how Carly and I used to refer to him. Just Ford. I forgot about that. When we would lie in bed at night and go over our days . . . whenever one of the other boys would act out or get in trouble, she used to say, why can’t they be more like or just like Ford? We laughed and said that wasn’t fair to the others . . . but it stuck between the two of us, and eventually was shortened to Just Ford.” He chuckles. “God, that feels like forever ago.”
“Just Ford,” the interviewer says.
“Yep. Ford is . . . the peacekeeper of our family. The even keel in our sometimes-stormy life. He’s . . . just Ford.”
The recording cuts off, but I keep staring at the black screen, hearing his words and seeing his smile.
Just Ford.
It meant so much more to him than the indifference I first read it as.
Tears are on my cheeks. I don’t even know when they fell, and I don’t fucking care. It’s just my brothers and Ellery here. The three people in my life who matter the most.
Ledger squeezes the back of my neck and shakes me back and forth as Callahan pats my back with his palm.
I look up to find Ellery across the room. Her cheeks are stained with silent tears, but the smile she grants me is everything.
She knew all along there was more to the story.
Just as my brothers did. Just as they set out to prove to me.
The three people in the world who matter the most to me know the truth. Know the meaning behind Just Ford. My mom was right. Those are the only people whose opinions about me matter.
Just Ford.
It has a nice ring to it and one I’ll gladly take.
EPILOGUE
Ellery
“You know you could have picked anywhere in the world to do this.”
“I know,” I murmur against his lips. He pulls me into him and just holds on to me in the one place I’ve never felt safer. “But this is where I wanted to be. The place that started it all for us.”
The late-afternoon sun makes the sand look whiter and the color of the flowers more vibrant. The beach beyond the Azure has been transformed into a paradise that even I couldn’t believe when I saw it earlier today.
Fairy lights strewn about. In the trees. On the tables. A dance floor in the sand. A small gathering of those who we love the most . . . and my brothers. We’re still a work in progress, but at least the word progress is in there. At least there’s that.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Ford looks at me, love reflecting in every facet of his expression. “I still can’t believe it.” He brushes his lips against mine.
“Me either.”
“You ready, Mrs. Sharpe?”
That name.
It’s mine now.
Or rather, it’s been mine now for a total of four hours and three minutes, and if it feels this good already, I can’t wait to see what a lifetime of being Mrs. Sharpe feels like.
I’m married.
Married to Fordham Sharpe no less.
The woman who feared love, who pushed it away, can’t imagine not having this love for this man.
And now he’s my forever, and we’re about to start our journey together.
I peek out the curtains to take in our guests lining each side of the walkway that leads to our awaiting limousine. Fordham takes my hand and smiles as he opens the door.
The rush of noise hits us. Laughter and cheers and whoops as we step outside.
How did we get here?
“Let’s do this,” Ford says with a squeeze of my hand, and we take the first steps toward our forever.
The rain and wind virtually knock me off my feet as I push into the inn. Chandler rambles in my ear about a project he’s working on as if I’m not braving a tropical storm and trying to avoid being a lightning rod.
“Hello? Did you hear me?” I repeat for what feels like the tenth time. He’s not listening to me, so wrapped up in his own self. “Closed. We’re stuck.”
“Brilliant observation. There’s a reason we’re all sitting in here, and it’s not because of the ambiance,” the man mutters to the left of me, as I drop my bag into a heap on the floor beside the only open barstool in this godforsaken place.
“I don’t believe I was speaking to you,” I snap. Mind your own business, buddy.
“Good. Great. Wait. They closed the roads?”
It’s then that I look over and meet the eyes of the moody asshole giving me his two cents when I didn’t ask for it. Chandler blathers on in my ear, but I don’t hear a word he says because I’m too busy being knocked on my ass by the pair of stunning amber eyes.
By the man sitting before me who makes my pulse jump.
We pass Callahan and Sutton. Their two girls, Maxine and Carly, are dressed in frilly white dresses with flower crowns in their curly hair. Sutton reaches out and squeezes my hand, her smile reassuring and welcoming, while Callahan high-fives his brother and says something that makes them both laugh.
“C’mon, Celery Ellery. Take a chance on me. Take a chance with me.” He holds his hand out—the hand he withheld from my brother’s handshake. “Deal, partner?”
“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this,” I groan as a thrill of excitement shoots through me.
“Is that a yes?”
I meet his eyes, take in his smile, and reach out to shake his hand. What the hell am I doing? “Yes.”
Ledger and Asher are next. They’re standing with grins on their faces. Asher is holding their two-month-old son, Oliver, in her arms. He’s sound asleep as Ledger wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him.
“Have fun!” Asher whisper-shouts as she throws a handful of something in the air that falls all around us.
“Celery Ellery.”
“Fordham the University,” I say back to him with a straight face—since he seems so damn serious—before I start laughing.
He jumps onto the bed and tackle-hugs me, tickling me until I’m breathless and pushing him off me.
His lips meet mine in the tenderest of kisses. “I had all kinds of plans for this. Elaborate ones. They were put in motion and have been on standby for weeks. For the right time. But . . . it’s burning a hole in my pocket, and I don’t want to wait anymore.”
“Ford.” His name is a warning and a plea of hope.
He scrambles up and straddles me, his shy smile owning my heart. “I can give you the world in any capacity you wish. I could buy you anything you want, whisk you away to some far-off destination, or have fireworks write it in the sky. I could take out an ad in Times Square or devise some elaborate scavenger hunt for you . . . but I don’t think any of that would matter to you. Pomp and circumstance aren’t your thing . . . because from day one for you, it’s always been about us. You see the real me. You saw it and still let me in. Marry me, Ellery. Marry me, and let’s write that epilogue together and then live it out.”