Chapter 9
The wedding was small. Perfect.
We got married in our backyard, under the oak tree. The garden was in full bloom. The roses I'd planted were everywhere.
Harper was my maid of honor. She looked beautiful in a pale blue dress.
Ethan was Tom's best man. He looked handsome in his suit.
Claire gave me away. My father had passed away years ago, and Claire was the closest thing I had to a parent.
Tom's kids came from Dallas. His daughter, Sarah, was fourteen. His son, Jake, was twelve. They were sweet kids. They already called me "Elaine" and treated Harper and Ethan like their own siblings.
Graham didn't come. Harper had invited him, but he'd said it was "too soon." That he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. I respected that.
Tom and I wrote our own vows.
"Elaine," Tom said, his voice steady but full of emotion. "I promise to love you. To honor you. To respect you. I promise to never lie to you. To never keep secrets from you. I promise to be your partner in everything. To support your dreams. To help you through the hard times. To laugh with you in the good times. I promise to be a father to Harper and Ethan. To love them as my own. I promise to build a life with you that's full of honesty. Full of trust. Full of love. For as long as I live."
My turn.
"Tom," I said, my voice thick with tears. "I promise to love you. To trust you. To build a life with you. I promise to be your partner. To support your dreams. To stand by you through everything. I promise to be a mother to Sarah and Jake. To love them as my own. I promise to never take you for granted. To never forget how lucky I am to have found you. You gave me my life back, Tom. You taught me that love can be safe. That it can be kind. That it can be true. And I promise to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you've made me."
We kissed. The crowd cheered.
Harper threw her arms around both of us. Ethan joined in. Sarah and Jake piled on. Claire took a photo.
It was messy. It was loud. It was perfect.
---
Life after the wedding was everything I'd hoped it would be.
Tom and I worked hard. I ran my landscaping business. He ran his construction company. Sometimes we worked together on projects. He built the decks and patios. I designed the gardens. We made a good team.
The kids were thriving.
Harper got a job at an engineering firm in Austin. She moved into an apartment downtown, but she came home for dinner every Sunday.
Ethan graduated from college. He got a job as an engineer too. Same firm as Harper. They carpooled to work together. They were inseparable.
Sarah and Jake spent every other weekend with us. They loved having older siblings. They loved helping me in the garden. They loved learning woodworking from Tom.
We were a family. Blended. Complicated. Not perfect.
But ours.
Graham and I developed a kind of friendship. A tentative, respectful one.
We talked on the phone occasionally. Mostly about Harper. About Ethan.
He came to birthday parties. To holiday dinners. Always polite. Always respectful of Tom. Always careful not to overstep.
He never married Vanessa. He never had another family. He told me once, "I had my chance at happiness. I blew it. But I'm glad you found yours."
It was sad. But it was also his truth.
He'd made his choices. And he was living with the consequences.
---
One evening, about a year after the wedding, we were all sitting around the dinner table.
Harper and Ethan were arguing about something that had happened at work.
Sarah and Jake were begging Tom to take them camping.
I looked around the table. At my husband. At my children. At our family.
I thought about the night I opened the door and saw Vanessa and Ethan standing on my porch. The night my whole world fell apart.
I'd thought my life was over.
But it wasn't.
It was just beginning.
Tom squeezed my hand under the table.
"You okay?" he asked.
I smiled at him.
May you like
"I'm perfect," I said.
And for the first time in my life, I meant it.
