How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Elodie glanced at him, startled.

Her marriage to Jarrod had happened in a rush. They'd simply signed the papers to make it official-nothing more.

There'd never been a wedding. After all, the whole thing was meant to be low-key from the start; throwing a big party would have defeated the purpose.

Now, with Nadia fed and finally contented, she was growing sleepy in Jarrod's arms. He set the bottle aside, then looked over at Elodie. "It's a shame we never had a proper ceremony. If things had started out differently, I would have wanted to give you everything—a real wedding, the whole nine yards."

Back then, the situation had been awkward for both families.

And with the press sniffing around, they'd kept things as quiet as possible, trying to protect Elodie from idle gossip and rumors.

If Jarrod was honest, he'd always wanted to make it up to her with a real wedding.

The thought had first crossed his mind when their relationship began to settle into something stable.

But pride had kept him silent-he'd never been good at voicing things he wasn't ready to face.

Elodie, for her part, had never been one to daydream about grand gestures or elaborate events. She was practical; to her, the idea of planning a wedding now seemed anything but simple.

“Wouldn't it feel a little weird?" she asked. After all, they'd been married for years.

it would make things official-give us a proper start, even if it's late. Honestly, you don't even seem to want it as much as

He sounded almost exasperated.

was the one who cared more about this moment than she

"Well, it's not like anyone doesn't know we're

was, she couldn't imagine finding time to plan a

details and

the same. Besides, it

Ivan Harcourt. Watts Aldridge.

both been trouble, circling like

problems had mostly been put to

the world to know where things stood and certain people

proud of how possessive he

Elodie understood exactly

really say no. Reaching for his wrist, she retented. "Fine. But let's

finally

you get back, we'll have

clearly pleased, and disappeared off to shower,

he was so excited about. Planning a wedding sounded exhausting-he

She'd underestimated Jarrod's determination.

grabbed his laptop