The Underground

Epilogue

"Well, Louis," she said in her sweet, high-pitched voice. "I'm not going to live forever, so I just want to see some of my great grandchildren before I go."

We both laughed hard and he said, "We'll see what we can do, Grandma."

Instead of parading around town in limos after the wedding, we rented several vintage convertibles so we could cruise around Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in style. The only car that wasn't rented was Louis' car, which Liam drove while Veronica sat in front with him. It was a bright red classic Mustang convertible, which I bought for Louis as a wedding gift. He still had the Healey, but I knew he'd always wanted a classic Mustang. We sat in the back seat, letting Liam and Veronica chauffeur us around town for at least an hour, honking and waving and enjoying the incredibly beautiful Michigan summer day.

Eventually, we drove out into the country and up to the very same barn where Louis and I had attended Megan's wedding just last summer. I hired Phoebe Harris from New York, the only wedding planner that I had actually liked when my mother made me go with her, while I was still engaged to Richard. She had done a stunning job of creating a shabby chic wedding reception so elegant that even my mother had nothing but good things to say about it. Well, after she got done complaining about parking in a field and how the bugs were likely to eat her alive. But I had to hand it to my mother – she was trying to be more positive and to hold her tongue much more than she had in the past.

I was so happy that we had decided to do a traditional wedding and reception along with our little private wedding. It was fabulous to be able to celebrate with all of our friends. Preston flew in from Pennsylvania, and it was such a treat to see him again. Niall and Maryellen were there, probably feeling a little too eager for their own ceremony, which would take place in just a month or so. Louis and I were planning to fly to Ireland for it.

We also wanted to be sure that Lucinda and all of our other servants could attend, so we purchased plane tickets for all of them. Lucinda was staying with my parents until the end of the summer, and then she was officially retiring, true to her word that she would stay long enough to see me get married.

I hugged her several times throughout the evening. "Thank you so much for being here. You're like family, and it wouldn't have been the same without you," I said.

"Oh, honey, you know I wouldn't miss this for anything. Now you go and have yourself a good time," she said, giving me a peck on the cheek. But before I walked away, she gently grabbed my wrist and said, "You tell Louis I want to be the first to know when you two are gonna have some young'uns."

I laughed and said, "Everyone's so impatient for that all of a sudden!"

Louis and I made the rounds to all our guests, personally greeting everyone who came. The best part was that he was holding me, touching me, or had his arms around me the whole time. He made me feel like a princess for a day.

Harry had come and was now happily eating cake with Carly and the kids. When we approached them, Mimi jumped up to hug me, but Carly managed to grab her and wipe the blue frosting off her hands first.

"You are so pretty!" Mimi gushed.