Page 83 of Caught By the Chief of Staff

Epilogue

What happens in Vegas is forever

“This is it,” Grace says to me. “Are you ready?”

“Absolutely.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she says, handing me a huge bouquet of pink and white roses.

Yesterday, Rick, Rachel, and I flew to Las Vegas and checked into the biggest suite known to man in the Paris Hotel. It’s actually two bedrooms larger than the apartment we shared when we were first married. After that, our friends started arriving.

Last night, we dressed in our best and had a fabulous dinner filled with steak and wine and good friendships. Rachel was over the moon getting to stay up late and party with her favorite pals, Jules and Grace.

But this morning was my absolute favorite.

We woke up and had an amazing breakfast, and then the hair and makeup ladies showed up. They looked a little terrified, probably because they had to go through a thousand pounds of security clearances to get this gig, but we made it worth their while. They can never tell the stories from today, because of the ironclad NDAs they signed, but they had so much fun with us that they didn’t look like they cared.

Now, Grace and Jules are wearing beaded gowns in a muted shimmery gold. Rachel and I are in a rose gold. My dress is fitted and sleeveless with a deep V in the front and a deeper V in the back. Rachel’s has cap sleeves and a poofy skirt. When we asked her what she wanted for our wedding, she said pink and sparkly. She should know by now not to give me a challenge like that. Her mama knows how to shop.

Grace gifted me with a pair of nude Louboutins—her signature shoe. I wore Rick’s diamond studs and a black leather jacket I hand-painted on the back two skeletal hands intertwined and in gold script above them saidTil death do us part.

Which brings us to now. I take my flowers and stand at the end of the line outside the little wedding chapel Rick and I were married in years ago. The music starts, and Jules walks through the door and down the aisle followed by Grace. We decided to shake things up a bit. Rachel and I are anything but go-with-the-flow girls. So instead of her walking ahead of me, we walk hand-in-hand toward the man who completes our family.

We didn’t invite many people. The only seats filled are Wes and his beautiful wife Claire, Lee, who I hadn’t met yet, Ryan—it was touch and go, but he made it out, although not without several expletives escaping while the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance—Gus, and Joe. Their roles as Jake’s Secret Service agents were filled by other agents tonight so they could attend our wedding. And with special permission from the President of the United States, every man wore their dress blues. They aren’t the whites Rick wore the first time, but I was also told it’s the wrong season. I’ll take what I can get.

As we walk down the aisle, Rick only has eyes for Rachel and me, and he smiles like I haven’t seen him smile in years.

We repeat the same vows we did years ago, which is more symbolic than legal, seeing as how Rick also announced last night he never signed our divorce papers, which is why he carried my rings with him all of these years. Apparently, he got rip-roaring drunk then got really pissed and lit them on fire. I was on the run, so I never knew.

Then he slides my plain gold ring up my finger followed by my diamond band, which I’m more than happy to have back, but then he further surprises me by sliding the mother of all diamonds onto my finger as well.

“We have a past and a present, baby,” he says quietly to me in front of our closest friends. “But most importantly, we have a future, and it is bright.”

We may not have fully uncovered the plot against the president, but we’re living in the moment. We’re all doing our best to find our little bit of light in the darkness. And I have a feeling that everything will work out all right. Eventually. For now, Lee is looking more like he swallowed a lemon, and Ryan is eyeing Jules like she’s a cool drink of water and he’s a man who just walked out of a desert. It’s still a little jarring since Rick and I were so convinced that he was a bad guy even when Jake swore up and down that Ryan was solid.

As it turned out, he saw the note I had left on the kitchen counter and realized that I was going off “half cocked” as he so delicately put it from his hospital bed. Apparently, Ryan realized that I didn’t want Rick to get hurt and was sacrificing myself for the two people I love more than anything in this world. He also decided that that was bullshit, again, his words. Apparently, the big bad Marine developed a soft spot for my growly husband and figured that he needed to keep me safe for Rick’s health. Rick swears it’s some bullshit about Marines always needing to be the first in the fight. Usually the dispute dissolves into name calling around there.

But now, I can’t help the smile that’s spreading across my face and the big Texan glares in the direction of Jules, our very New York gal with brass balls and all. I can’t help but feel like they’re going to be so much fun to watch if they can ever stop fighting long enough to fuck.

Life is weird, but it’ll all work out.

And when the minister tells Rick he can kiss his bride, boy does he ever. And then he scoops Rachel up onto his shoulders, where she lets out a battle cry that would make William Wallace proud, he takes my hand in his, and we head out into our future as a family. And he was right—it is bright, because it’s ours. We never strayed, even when we were apart, because we were always it for each other and that will never change.

This is the forever we were always meant to have, and we’re living it.

The End