Single All the Way (Single Dads of Dragonfly Lake #2)

Epilogue

One week later

Emerson

I held my husband’s hand as we reached the door to the Honeysuckle Inn ballroom.

Ben had been my husband for nearly four glorious, chaotic, family-filled hours. It was still sinking in that I was his wife. This man was forever mine.

“You ready?” he asked, pausing to look down at me with his handsome, loving eyes.

“Let’s do it,” I said, grinning, thinking how we already had done it.

Ben tugged me up against him, his possessive hand at my waist, and bent to kiss me. He took his sweet time with my lips. When he finally ended the kiss, he said, “Come on, Mrs. Holloway. We have a lot to celebrate.”

His words caused a fluttering in my chest.

We laced our fingers together again, and he opened the door, unleashing a torrent of noise: an eighties cover group called Big Hair Band was playing “Living on a Prayer,” and a couple hundred partygoers were dancing, talking, drinking, laughing, preparing to welcome in the New Year at midnight.

Cash Henry greeted us and asked for our tickets. He wore a black tee with the sleeves rolled once and black pants.

“ Dirty Dancing ?” I asked. “Johnny?”

He grinned. “You got it. You’re one of the few who didn’t have to ask.”

“Ava’s pale pink dress clued me in.” She’d been at the check-in counter when we’d come through the lobby. Her pregnant belly took nothing away from the costume.

“Looking good,” Ben said to him.

“ Princess Bride , right?” Cash asked us.

“This is my Buttercup,” Ben said, making me laugh and roll my eyes.

Embracing the eighties theme of the party, I wore a flowing red gown with a gold belt and a long blond wig. My handsome hero was dressed in black, with poufy sleeves and ornate boots he’d ordered online.

We stopped at one of the bars and ordered drinks, then did a private toast to us. I welcomed his mouth as he kissed me yet again. I didn’t mind. I’d never mind his kisses. I hoped we’d still be stopping in our tracks to kiss when we were ninety.

“Look at West over there,” Ben said to me, pointing.

I laughed. “A Rubik’s Cube.” The big, muscled guy was wearing what appeared to be a painted cardboard box. “I hope he doesn’t want to slow dance with anyone tonight.”

Next to West stood Chance, Max, Harper, and Knox. Max noticed us and waved us over to their group, standing around a tall cocktail table.

We reached them and greeted them, and I hugged Harper.

“Who are you dressed as?” I asked, laughing at her poofed out, side-parted hair that hung to the side and her powder-blue, off-the-shoulders, giant-ruffled tea-length dress.

“Eighties prom couple, of course!” she said, tugging Max closer so I could appreciate his full suit with a matching powder-blue bow tie.

“You two look amazing,” I said.

“So do you!” Harper snuggled into her fiancé’s side as Max put his arm around her.

Anna, Olivia, and Maeve joined us as the band ended a song, making it easier to hear for a few seconds.

“Hey, newlyweds!” Anna said. “Happy New Year!” She wore an off-the-shoulders striped shirt and frizzed, tall eighties hair.

“Hello, rock n’ roll girls,” Ben said.

“Look at you guys,” I said, taking in the other two costumes. “You make better Bangles than the Bangles themselves.”

“Don’t they?” Harper said. “Confession: I had to Google what they looked like.”

“Such a young thing,” Olivia said, side-hugging her.

“And yes, we’re jealous,” Maeve added.

“Where’s your fourth?” I asked.

“Magnolia’s floating around, seeing to details,” Anna said. “She’s the true rock star tonight.”

“This place looks incredible,” I said.

The entire ballroom was a neon explosion.

“Anna, Ava, and Magnolia knocked it out of the park,” Olivia agreed. She leaned in closer. “You two were fashionably late.” She directed the comment to me and raised a suggestive brow toward Ben.

Chance had pulled Ben aside and shook his hand, probably congratulating him.

“Yes, why were you late?” Maeve asked, trying to keep a smile off her face. “ Hmm? ”

Laughing again, I said, “Let’s see, we got done at the courthouse just before they closed at four. Then we had to take the whole brood home. The kids were hyper, so we fed them dinner and tried to get them calmed down before leaving them with Berty all night. Then we had to check in to our room here and unpack and change into our costumes?—”

“They’re amazing, by the way,” Anna said.

“Thanks. And here we are.” I brushed my fake blond hair back over my shoulder, feeling a slight flush on my cheeks when I thought about the way we’d consummated our marriage with an earth-shattering quickie on the bathroom counter of our room.

We’d get down to the business of our official wedding night later. I’d make certain of it, not that I’d have to convince Ben. The only thing I’d had to convince him of was getting our costumes on and coming down to the party for a few hours before continuing naked time.

Our courthouse wedding had been a few days later than we’d hoped because the kids had passed around a cold in the days following Christmas, but the weeklong wait made it all the sweeter. I could say that now that it was over and we were married.

“Well, congratulations,” Maeve said, hugging me. “I’m so happy for you, Em.”

“Thank you.” I felt lighter than air.

Anna and Olivia hugged me next. When the band started playing a Wham song, the girls dragged me out on the dance floor. I handed off my drink to my gorgeous husband, who pressed a kiss to my lips as I went. We spent the next dozen songs dancing to the admittedly good band.

Eventually, ready to take a break, I glanced around to find my husband. I left the others on the dance floor and made my way to Ben, who was still with his dad friends, only a few of whom were single now.

“Hey,” I said as I sidled up to him.

“Hey, sexiest woman alive.” Ben faced me, pulled me into him, and kissed me solidly, thoroughly, plunging his tongue into my mouth as if we’d been apart for two weeks instead of maybe an hour.

I didn’t mind a bit.

I kissed him back, arching into him, loving the feel of his hard, solid body.

“Newlywed alert!” Knox bellowed, laughing.

Ben and I grinned into our kiss but didn’t immediately pull apart.

“Get a room!” Chance called out.

“We’ve got one,” Ben said, peering down at me with heat in his eyes before he looked at Chance. “Jealous?”

“He got you there,” West said to Chance. Then West leaned in and said, “Lloyd here’s been eyeing the mystery woman with Ava for the past fifteen minutes.”

“Gotta admit she’s hot,” Chance said.

“Lloyd?” I asked.

“Dobler,” Ben said. “From Say Anything . His boombox is on the table behind him.”

I glanced behind Chance, who wore a trench coat over a T-shirt, cargo pants, and high-top sneakers, and spotted a huge boombox.

“I love it,” I said, then turned my attention to the woman West had mentioned. “We don’t know who the woman is?”

Cash, who’d been relieved of door duty, said, “She checked in alone this evening, so Ava insisted she come to the party. Not sure what her story is but she seemed a little out of sorts.”

“Sounds like there is a story there,” Max said.

“Why don’t you go find out, Lloyd?” West said. “Maybe she could be your Diane.”

“Maybe I will,” Chance said.

Quincy, Harper, Piper, Dakota, and Cambria joined our group, and we all became absorbed in a discussion of our costumes and who we thought would win the contest.

Later, just a few minutes before midnight, Adrian Cormier, who was deejaying now that the band had finished, got on the mic.

“Hey, party people, the New Year’s about nine minutes away. We’re going to slow things down for a couple dances to get you in the mood for your New Year’s kisses, so if you don’t know who you’ll be kissing yet, now’s the time to figure it out. Don’t be caught alone at the stroke of midnight!”

The first notes of Madonna’s “Crazy for You” played, and my husband held out his hand.

“Care to dance, wife of mine?”

“We should probably warm up for that kiss too,” I said.

“I love the way you think.”

He led me out to the dance floor, and then we did kiss, but just a short few brushes of our lips. I, for one, was more than ready for naked time back in our room, but we’d agreed to hold out for midnight before making our escape.

We danced with our bodies pressed into each other, his erection apparent, telling me Ben was ready too.

The dance floor was filled, the tables throughout the place emptying as most people were taking Adrian’s advice and coupling up.

The lights were dim enough and the dance floor crowded enough I couldn’t see whether my single girlfriends had found someone to ring in the New Year with.

“Look at that,” Ben said, nodding to the side of us.

I followed his nod to Chance, who was dancing with the mystery woman he’d been eyeing. Dancing closely . Body to body, just like my husband and me. The woman was peering up at Chance with a heated smile as they talked, inaudible to us. I couldn’t see Chance’s expression, but the woman, who was incidentally really pretty, seemed all on board with whatever was happening.

Interesting .

“Go, Chance,” I said quietly.

“He could use a woman in his life,” Ben said with a laugh.

“What about West?” I asked.

“He took off a few minutes ago, saying he wanted to relieve his babysitter.”

“And avoid the New Year’s kiss pressure?”

“That’s my guess. His ex messed him up. Or rather, messed his girls up. He’s gone cautious to an extreme.”

“I guess that’s not a bad thing. Good for him for putting his kids first.”

The music segued into “Heaven” by Bryan Adams. I stopped thinking about all our single friends and nestled my head into my husband’s chest, letting gratitude permeate every inch of me. I was so lucky to have this strong, loving, beautiful man. Tonight and for the rest of our lives.

Before the song was over, an army of servers scurried through, weaving around couples on the dance floor, passing out plastic flutes and filling them with champagne.

There were also people passing around noisemakers and horns, but with my drink in one hand and my attention focused on my husband, I had no need for anything extra. My celebrating this year was inside of me, in my heart and my soul.

“You ready?” Ben said, his empty hand at the small of my back, pulling me flush against him again.

“I’m so ready.” I signaled my double meaning with my eyes.

He seemed to understand my message as he bowed his head close to my ear and growled.

“Here we go, folks,” Adrian said into the microphone. “Ten, nine, eight…”

We joined him in the countdown, my gaze locked with Ben’s as if making our second lifelong promise of the day to each other.

“Happy New Year!” everyone yelled as my lips locked with my husband’s.

Our kiss went on for a good long while as we meshed our bodies together in the same way we’d meshed our lives together.

When we finally drew apart, I caught sight of Chance and his mystery girl out of the corner of my eye as they slipped out the ballroom entrance.

With a distracted smile, I peered up at my love. “Happy New Year,” I said, running my palm over his bearded jaw.

“Happy New Year, love of my life.”

We kissed again, this time a quick brush before he pulled back and added, “I’ve never felt so excited to dive into a new year as I do tonight. Because of you. I love you, Ems.”

“I love you back.”

“I love our life. Our chaotic, never-quiet, kid-filled, animal-filled, love-filled life.”

“I do too,” I said, my heart overflowing with love. “Like I never would’ve thought I could love the craziness. But I do one hundred percent. And Ben?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“If you take me upstairs right now, I’ll show you how much I love it—and you.”

With an irresistible smile as he peered down at me, he said, “As you wish.”

Thanks for reading Single All the Way ! I hope you loved Ben and Emerson!