A few minutes later, the waiter brings out our dessert. It’s a dark chocolate, triple-layer cake with strawberry filling and a dark chocolate frosting.
“This looks really good,” Jade says as the waiter sets a piece of cake in front of her. The plate has swirls of chocolate syrup on it that go all around the cake.
“Where’s Sean?” Harper asks the waiter.
“He’ll be here shortly. Enjoy.”
The waiter leaves and Harper scans the dining room, looking for Sean.
Jade’s checking out Harper’s plate. “Why do you have all those strawberries with yours?”
“Sean probably put them there because he knows I love strawberries with anything chocolate.” Harper picks her fork up, still searching for Sean. “We should wait for him. I don’t know what’s taking him so long.”
I’m sitting next to Harper and something on her plate catches my eye. “Harper, you might want to take a look at those strawberries.”
“Why?” She looks down at her plate and sees it. She drops her fork. “Oh my God!”
“What?” Jade drops her fork, too. “What’s wrong?”
“Harper.” Sean appears at our table wearing a tuxedo. He looks really nervous. His body’s stiff and he’s breathing fast.
Harper turns to him, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes already wet and ready to spill tears.
“Harper.” Sean takes her hand and gets down on one knee. “I know I’m not the richest guy, or the most sophisticated guy, but I’m a guy who loves you more than anything. I love your beautiful smile and your beautiful eyes and your beautiful spirit. Everything about you is beautiful to me. From the first day we met, I knew I’d never be able to get you out of my head. And I was right. Since the first moment I saw you, I’ve never stopped thinking about you. Even when you’re not around, you’re always with me, in my mind, and in my heart. I love you, and I would love to spend the rest of my life with you. Harper, will you marry me?”
Harper now has tears streaming down her face. “Yes.” She nods. “Yes! I’ll marry you!”
He kisses her, then takes the ring from the strawberries and places it on her finger and they kiss again.
My arm’s around Jade and I look over and see that she’s crying, too.
“Happy tears?” I whisper in her ear.
She nods, sniffling. “Yes.”
Sean goes around to the tray stand and comes back with a dozen long-stem red roses and hands them to Harper.
Jade and I stand up, startling Harper. I think she forgot we were here.
We exchange hugs and congratulations, and when everyone calms down, we finally eat our dessert.
“Did you practice that proposal?” Jade asks Sean.
“Only about a million times.”
“You did?” Harper kisses him. “That’s so sweet.” The two of them are sitting so close she’s practically on his lap.
“That was an amazing proposal,” Jade says.
“Hey.” I look at her. “You didn’t say mine was amazing.”
“Yours was more than amazing.” She kisses me. Her lips taste like chocolate and it reminds me of all the times chocolate has led to us having sex. My gaze wanders down to her cleavage and the tight red dress she’s wearing, then back up to her beautiful jade green eyes, and it makes me wonder how I got a woman this gorgeous and this incredible to say yes to my proposal.
“I love you.” She whispers it in my ear, then smiles and goes back to eating her cake.
“This ring is so beautiful.” Harper holds her hand out to look at it. “When did you get it?”
Sean smiles at me from across the table. “Right after Christmas.”
I smile back. I’ll keep his secret. Harper doesn’t need to know he bought it months ago. It might freak her out. Back then, she wasn’t ready for a proposal. Someday he can tell her the truth.
“It’s perfect.” She admires her ring again, then hugs him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” They kiss again.
I notice the people at the table across from us pouring champagne. I check my watch. “Only a minute until midnight. Is anyone going to make a toast?”
“I will.” Sean ordered us some non-alcoholic champagne. We each stand and hold up our glasses. “To Moorhurst College, for bringing Garret and me the two greatest women in the world.”
We laugh as we clink glasses, but it’s true. Jade and Harper both showed up at that tiny college in Connecticut, far away from their hometowns. And then I met Jade, and Jade met Harper, and Harper met Sean, and somehow we all ended up together. Jade married me, and now Harper’s marrying Sean, and the four of us are best friends.
When I think about that, it amazes me how everything worked out like this. I can’t explain it. That’s what I like best about the story of Jade and me. It can’t be explained. It doesn’t make sense. Two people from vastly different backgrounds coming together and becoming best friends and falling in love despite everyone around us trying to keep us apart.
So tonight, on this New Year’s Eve, I’d like to toast to those things in life we can’t explain, but that end up making our lives fuller and richer and better than we ever imagined.
Life doesn’t need to be explained. It just needs to be lived. And appreciated. And spent with those you love.
I turn to Jade, holding up my glass. “To the unexplainable.”
“What?” She has no idea what I mean.
“Just go with it.” I smile and clink her glass. “Happy New Year, Jade.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Three Years Later
JADE
Garret gives me a New Year’s kiss that melts me from the inside out. I relax into him and feel his arm go around my waist, holding me up.
“Too much champagne?” he asks.
“No. It’s your kisses.” I smile at him and he gives me another one.
He tugs me closer, getting a firmer grip on my waist. “My kisses make you weak in the knees?”
“They always have and they always will.”
He kisses me again. “Happy New Year, Jade.”
It’s another new year. Another year of this wonderful life that seems to just keep getting better.
Three years ago on this night, Garret and I were watching Sean propose to Harper. She was shocked, but also happier than I’d ever seen her. But she was even happier on her wedding day, which was last year on New Year’s Eve. Sean and Harper had a long engagement, which is what Harper wanted, especially after all the stuff going on with her parents.
A few months after Sean and Harper got engaged, Harper’s parents got divorced, and for the whole year following, her dad had to go through an investigation regarding his alleged theft of funds from the movie studio. He almost went to prison for it, but his lawyer convinced the judge to just make Kiefer pay back the money, which left him with five million dollars. It sounds like a lot but he was worth way more than that before. Kelly and Kiefer had to sell their mansion and some of their expensive cars. Kelly moved into a small house in Pasadena and Kiefer moved to New York. He now makes low budget indie films. And he still makes fake videos for the organization.
The story is that Harper’s mom divorced her dad because they didn’t get along anymore, but I think the truth is that Kelly never wanted Kiefer to join the organization. I don’t think she knew everything about it, but she knew enough that she didn’t want to be part of it. And despite her objections, Kiefer still wanted to join, at least he did until he found out about their plans for Harper. But by then, I think Kelly had lost respect for her husband and that’s what led to their divorce. Kiefer put money before his family and it broke them apart.
Harper said her mom has adjusted to living alone, but she’s not really alone. Harper’s sisters rented an apartment just down the street from their mom’s house, so the three of them always do stuff together. And Sean and Harper, who now live in Santa Barbara, are always down there visiting because Harper’s mom and sisters can’t get enoug
h of the baby.
Yes, Sean and Harper have a baby. Soon after they got married, Harper found out she was pregnant. She says they weren’t planning on that, but I’m not sure if she’s telling the truth. I know the two of them didn’t want to wait to start a family. They had a baby boy last October. He’s super cute. He has bright blond hair just like his mom and dad.
As for their careers, Sean worked his way up to head chef at that restaurant in LA. He stayed there until Harper graduated from college last May. They didn’t like the craziness of LA so they moved to a house in Santa Barbara and started a catering and party planning business. The business is already so successful that they can’t keep up with all the requests. They’re booked through next year. Harper loves planning parties, so this is her dream job. And Sean likes the catering side of things. Plus, by owning their own business, they have control over their schedule, which they both like.
Garret and I also have a lot going on. We graduated last spring. Garret got his business degree and I got a degree in psychology. Garret is now a business owner, or part business owner. He and his dad bought WaveField Sports. The guy who started the company sold it last summer so he could work on his new business, some kind of Internet startup.
Garret didn’t have enough money to buy the company himself, so his dad offered to be a partner. By doing this, Pearce isn’t giving Garret money so the organization can’t say he’s violating any rules.
Speaking of the organization, William was promoted to the highest level. It happened three years ago, the same week I was summoned to that sentencing for Victoria. I know it sounds like a bad thing that William was promoted, but it’s actually been good. He’s changed the way they do things. I can’t say exactly what that means because I don’t know. I stay out of it. I don’t ask questions. But Pearce told Garret that the members can now face punishment for hurting innocent people who happened to see something they shouldn’t have, which has caused the members to be much more cautious in how they do things. Pearce said the older members, including his father, were reckless in how they did things and that’s what caused people like Carson’s sister to end up dead. But the older members are dying off and the younger members want to do things differently. I don’t know if they still rig elections. I’m sure they do. But Garret always tells me that if the organization didn’t, some other group would. He says that even the local elections in our town are controlled by a small group of people, basically whoever has the most money. I guess that’s kind of true. It seems like the candidates with the most money always win.
William comes to visit us a few times a year, but I never ask him about the organization. But I have asked Grace, and like Pearce, she said William’s had a positive influence on the group and that Arlin would be proud of him. So I take that to mean that they aren’t doing as many bad things. As much as I don’t like having my uncle so involved with the organization, the good thing is that with him in such a high-up position, I feel like Garret and I are safe and that they’ll leave us alone.
Pearce is no longer actively involved with the organization. He’s still a member, but they’ve asked him to keep his distance until they’re sure he’s not being followed. Pearce’s plan to distance himself from the organization worked. Well, kind of. It didn’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped. Carson, also known as Justin, and Hanniford, his billionaire boss, were determined to prove Pearce was a member. And they didn’t just follow him. They also tried to hack into his computer, using that girl, Sydney, the one I saw at Moorhurst that day, to do it. It’s a long story and I try not to think about it because it turned into this big mess and Garret and I ended up having to get involved. We wouldn’t have done it if it was just to help the organization. We only did it to save his dad. If his secrets got out, Pearce would’ve had enemies lining up to kill him.
Luckily, that didn’t happen. Carson, and the rest of the people who were after Pearce, were led to a dead end and they eventually gave up. But they planted their theory in the minds of enough curious reporters that it would be too risky for Pearce to get involved with the organization again anytime soon. Carson is now a reporter overseas so hopefully we’ll never see him again. But despite all the headaches Carson caused, he ended up being helpful. His actions allowed Pearce to be temporarily released from his obligations as a member.
So at least for now, Pearce is free from the organization. Pearce is also free on a personal level. After divorcing Katherine, he wasn’t forced to marry someone else, so he’s been single for years now. Katherine married that senator, but he’s no longer a senator. His conservative voters were angry when they found out he’d been dating a married woman and got her pregnant. He wasn’t re-elected so had to go back to his regular life as a Manhattan attorney. He and Katherine had a son, but just like with Lilly, Katherine has no interest in being a mom. A nanny raises the kid while Katherine tries to establish herself again among the social elite. So far, she’s been shunned, and last I heard, she was trying to convince her husband to move to France so she could live next to her sister and try to latch on to her sister’s high society friends. Even though Katherine lives close to Connecticut, she rarely sees Lilly. It’s like Katherine forgot she even has a daughter.
Lilly is 10 now. She still goes to private school and her favorite subject is art. She’s a really good artist. She can sketch, paint, sculpt—all that stuff that takes creative skills I don’t have. When she used to color me all those pictures, I always thought they were really good for someone her age. I guess she had a talent for art early on. She also still takes swim lessons, and when she gets to middle school, she’s going to try out for the swim team. Garret is so proud of her. Every time we go visit her, she races Garret in the pool. She hasn’t beat him yet, but someday she might.
Frank is doing well. He has his good days and bad, but mostly good. He married Karen two summers ago. It was a small outside wedding in Des Moines with just friends and family. And then that fall, Ryan married Chloe. It was sooner than any of us expected, given Ryan’s insistence on waiting, but once he no longer had to worry about Frank, he was ready to marry Chloe. Ryan’s still in med school, but Chloe graduated and is now in her residency.
Going back to Garret’s company, since buying it, he’s been working nonstop, trying to learn as much as possible and coming up with strategies to make it grow. He already knows a lot about the company because the guy he bought it from has been Garret’s mentor for the past few years. He taught Garret all aspects of the business; the financial side, the sales side, the product side, and more. Pearce has also been mentoring Garret, teaching him all the stuff he’s learned after years of running a successful company.
In this company they bought together, Pearce is more of a silent partner. He lets Garret run the show, but is available if Garret needs advice or has a question. Garret has such a great relationship with Pearce now. It’s so much different than when I met him.
And I love Pearce. He’s like a dad to me. Frank will always be my first dad, but Pearce is definitely my other dad. We talk on the phone all the time. He’s still super busy with work, but he never rushes me off the phone. Pearce has helped me be more confident in myself. He tells me to go for stuff and not back down from things I’m afraid to do. Garret tells me the same things, but it’s different coming from Pearce. Garret will sometimes tell me I’m good at stuff even when it’s not really true. But Pearce isn’t afraid to tell me what I need to work on and how to use my strengths to overcome my weaknesses. I find that empowering and I use it in my business.
Yes, I have a business now. I help teens who are at the same dark place I was at years ago, find their way back to the light. I speak at conferences, workshops, summer camps, youth shelters, schools, and more. Ever since I spoke to that group in Des Moines, I started getting requests to speak again. Then word spread and the jobs just kind of found me. I did about five speaking events a year when I was in college, but since then, I’ve done a lot more. And I love it. I absolutely love my job.
While we’re on the subject of helping people, I should mention our charities. The summer after our sophomore year, Garret formed Rachel’s Swim Club, a non-profit organization that provides free swim lessons to kids. It’s named after his mom, who always wanted every kid to know how to swim. Garret convinced his mentor at WaveField Sports to help him out by providing equipment and using his connections to help get the program up and running. It’s now in 20 states and is modeled after the program at Camsburg, where members of college swim teams volunteer their time to teach kids how to swim.
Garret and I also started The Taylor Foundation, named in memory of my mom and her parents, who I never got to meet. The foundation gives out money to people like Sara, who need help making ends meet. People can go online and nominate someone they know who needs help. They can either provide the money themselves or they can ask the foundation for the money. But however it’s done, the person remains anonymous, just like with our fake foundation. The recipient never knows who nominated them or the source of the money. It could be us, or whoever it was who nominated them. We have a staff of people who review all the nominations and send the money out. So far we’ve helped a lot of people and it was all inspired by Sara.
I almost forgot about Sara, probably because I never see her anymore and she’s too busy to call me, which I totally understand because she and Alex have a new baby girl. Sara and Alex got married two years ago, then moved to Oregon, where Alex got a job as a junior architect. They have a house with a big back yard for Caleb to play in. He’s almost four years old now. Sara’s been taking classes at the community college, but she’s taking this semester off since she just had a baby.
Always Us (The Jade Series #8) Page 39