by J. L. Farey
As she waited to walk down the aisle, Laurel thought of everything that had brought them to that day, in that place. The man beside her crooked his elbow and she slid her hand through. He was quite handsome, his salt and pepper hair short and neat, steel gray eyes full of affection, and his black suit crisp and fitted to perfection. Larry hadn’t been kidding when he said he knew how to fix things.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said.
Bailey smiled down at her. “And I you.”
There wasn’t much more to say. Bailey and Lola had decided it would be awkward to keep living in a place where people knew their history, so, with some financial assistance from Laurel and Aiden, they were moving to another state to start over. Their new home was a beautiful farm with lots of room to roam and wild rabbits that hopped through at will. Laurel told Bailey she wanted to visit, but they both knew she never would.
The music started. Their cue.
“Are you ready?” Bailey asked.
Laurel couldn’t hold back her smile if she tried. And she didn’t try. “Very ready.”
She’d come to Nocturne Falls with a simple goal: find a home for herself and her tree. A place she could put down roots of her own and not have to hide who she was. She’d never dreamed to find the love of her life, or to help him connect with his family, or to mend fences with her own brother and sisters. She’d made many new relationships, was saying goodbye to a most special friend, and was creating a whole new family.
Each step down the long, red fabric runner brought her closer to the man she loved. One step closer to the rest of her life. A life she intended to live to the fullest, each and every day.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. L. Farey (Jennifer, to her friends) was born in Hollywood, California. For the first ten years of her life, home was an apartment above a mortuary one block away from Hollywood & Vine where she watched Dark Shadows on TV with her mother, and heard tales of her Hungarian violinist grandfather and his good friend, fellow-Hungarian, Bela Lugosi. It's no surprise she jumped at the chance to be part of the Nocturne Falls Universe. She now lives in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, with her hottie British hubby, the best cabbie in town. When she’s not busy spinning tales, she enjoys playing tabletop games, attending live theater and movies, and singing at the top of her lungs to whatever happens to be playing on Pandora. Jennifer loves hearing from readers. You can contact her via Facebook or her website, www.JLFarey.com.