Sunshine After The Rain

Epilogue

Lucas' gazed moved from the mirror to where his father stood behind him after seeing him enter the room. 

"You look damn good, son."

He'd looked exactly the same for the last hour and a half, more than ready to marry the love of his life. Lucas remembered feeling nerves building up within him the first time he'd done this. It wasn't because he hadn't loved Siena, and would always feel a form of love for her, but then he'd been young and terrified of the future. If he'd be a good husband, one day a good father, and if he could provide for his future family. 

This time, Lucas didn't feel nervous. More than that, he'd never felt so certain about a decision or his future in his entire life. "Have you seen her?"

A smile took over his dad's face. "Just came from seeing her, actually. Sophie is radiant as always, and has a glow to her. That's a double meaning, in case you didn't catch that."

Lucas looked down and let out a quiet laugh. "Figured it out, did you?"

"I did. Something tells me Laura noticed too. But the two of you are getting married for all the right reasons, and it's not like she was pregnant when you proposed."

No, that had been a year ago, and Sophie had only revealed her pregnancy to him last week. 

His dad stepped further into the room, looking around and taking it all in. "So, this was her room?"

Lucas had already looked around, but the room no longer had all the things he'd bought for his deceased daughter, long after she'd died. There were no cork boards on the wall filled with pictures of them from a childhood cut short. No lavender comforter on the bed, or teenage girls clothing in the closet. He'd packed the room up and donated its contents before Anna had ever so much as seen inside the room. 

While the women got ready at the farmhouse, the wedding taking place in the yard, Lucas found it fitting to dress here, in his old house, then spend his time waiting in his daughter's old room that now belonged to the new Arianna in their lives.

"This was her room, yes," Lucas confirmed. "I know she isn't here anymore, and never really was, but I wanted to share this day with her. Show her that her father's okay now."

His dad gave him a nod and a small smile, looking around the room as if it still held her spirit. "She'll be there today, looking down on you and smiling. Just because she isn't in this house anymore doesn't mean she isn't with you. Always." He let out a cough, then sat on the small bed Anna's daughter wasn't yet ready to use. "I should have been there to get to know her better. I was there to mourn her death, but I was never there celebrating her life. I regret that, more than you'll ever comprehend. 

"I've made many mistakes in my life, but the worst was pushing you away. I never made time for you, son. I wasn't there for all your big moments, or the small ones. I made you feel like a stranger in my life and unwanted, and no apology is great enough to make up for that. 

"What's worse is that you were standing by the sidelines, waiting for a relationship with me, and I never noticed, too focused on my career and Jason. It's my fault. You could have been close with your brother, with me, and instead you were made to feel like the dirty secret rather than my affair."

"Dad."

"No," Joel continued, cutting him off. "I need to say this, and more than anything, you need to hear it. I'm grateful for you allowing me into your life these last two years. You could have pushed me away and had every right to, but you didn't. When you and Sophie were struggling, you allowed me to be a father to you, allowed me to take care of you and let me in in a way I didn't deserve.