The Unexpected Happily Ever After

Chapter 15

We went home with mom and John that night. I signed the contracts for the house the next day and wedding preparations began after that. I didn't see or hear anything out of Dylan until the day of the wedding. He had snuck into my dressing room before the ceremony.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I gazed back at him through the mirror.

"I had to see you before you did it." He replied.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Because I love you. I needed to say goodbye this time. I'm tired of never getting to say goodbye." Dylan said as he sank back against the door.

"The lack of goodbyes are your fault as much as mine." I said turning to face him.

"Nah, they're all my fault not yours. I'm pretty terrible at this stuff. I've loved you most of my life, and all I ever did was fuck it up. I took you for granted. I guess I just thought that you would be there when I finally figured my shit out." Dylan replied.

"We're in our thirties Dylan. It's past time to have our shit figured out." I said.

"I know Ards. I know. I fucked up. I am so very sorry for hurting you so many times. Can I ask a question?" Dylan asked.

"I guess so." I replied apprehensively.

"Back at that New Year's when I told you that I loved you, if I had asked you to be mine, would you have agreed?" Dylan asked as he finally met my gazed.

"I probably would have needed a couple of days, but yeah I would have. I loved you. I was broken and hurting from losing Trey and Liam, but I would have given us a shot. Hell, I honestly thought that we were going to end up together after you told me you loved me. I waited around for 2 months thinking that you would come around. You didn't. Instead, you started dating that woman over in Jackson. I spent the majority of my life loving you, and when you walked out on me on New Year's Day it broke whatever was left of me. I wasn't the same anymore, and I couldn't get back to the old me. I tried. I'm happy now, but I'm not the old me. She died that day. I'm a different person now. I'm leaving the damn country because I can't be the happy me in this place. It sucks every once of life out of me. You took this place from me. The saddest part though is that up until I met Oliver six months ago, I would have still fallen into your arms if you had offered. I loved you in a way the I've never loved anyone else. It was all consuming and soul sucking. I gave and gave and gave until I wasn't me anymore. That kind of love isn't healthy. It's not the kind that you can build a life on because I would have never been able to tell you no. You're a great guy. You're kind. You're hardworking. You care about people. You deserve to be happy. I want you to be happy. Find someone. It just can't be me. You never loved me enough for that, but it can be someone." I pleaded.

At this point, Dylan's eyes had misted over with unscheduled tears. I watched as one fell, and without thinking, I reached out and wiped it away. Dylan hauled me to him at that moment and buried his face in my neck. I just wrapped my arms around him. Neither of us said a word, but I knew that this would be our final goodbye. We stayed like that for at least ten minutes before he finally let me go and stepped back. His eyes were clear now, and his voiced had been steady when he wished me the best and kissed my cheek before slipping back out. Matt showed up a few minutes later to walk me down the aisle. I married Oliver that day and we returned to Australia the next. We bought a huge house on the beach. We wanted one big enough for my family to be able to stay with us when they visited. Mom, John, Andrea, Matt, and Finn came every year for Christmas and New Year's. Mr. and Mrs. Winston even came some years. Oliver and I had two children, a boy and a girl. We named the boy Liam Oliver and the girl Olivia Trea. It had been Oliver's idea to include the guy's when we named our babies, and I opted to use his name for the inspiration for the other part of their names. They were beautiful. Liam even resembled his name sake.

I had been right on my wedding day when I said that it was mine and Dylan's final goodbye. I never saw or heard from him again, but I thought of him often. I couldn't drive past a golf course without thinking about him and all of the nights we spent sitting side by side on the one in our town. He had moved to Washington state shortly after I left. Andrea and Matt didn't hear from him again after that, but Andrea ran into his mom once at the store and she had told Andrea that he had gotten married and had three children of his own. It made me happy to think that he had finally found his own happiness. I would always have a special place in my heart for him, but that was all it could be. Sometimes in life we get our happy ending, but it doesn't look anything like we had been thinking. I had pictured plenty of happy endings in my life, but the one that I ended up with wasn't even remotely on the list. Yet somehow it was the one that I needed. I couldn't have pictured a life anymore perfect than the one I ended up with, and I guess that's my life lesson. Everything will always work out in the end. It just may take a lot of work and heartache to get there.