Stay Away

epilogue

Gerlos, 28th December 2026.

Despite every room of this hotel hosting a member of our wedding party, and every space filled with either people or set up for the ceremony happening in two hours, the room in which the piano sits is devoid of a single soul.

Save for one.

Leah's hands go straight over her eyes when I open the door, though her fingers spread when she thinks I have looked away. She shuffles over, making space for me on the piano bench. It groans, old and tired, as I take a seat beside her.

"You're wearing it," she says, staring straight ahead. It takes a lot to focus on the wall in front, especially when I know how beautiful she looks, the suit she has picked out fitting her more than perfectly. "I thought your stylist had decided on those Tiffany diamonds? And your mother wanted you to wear her pearls. Didn't both your grandmothers give you what they wore, too?"

I shrug, smoothing out my dress when I realise it has crumpled slightly. "The diamonds were too heavy, the pearls didn't match, and Fleur wanted to have a choice without copying me."

"But you wear it everyday," Leah continues, her confusion almost causing her to turn to me. "You wear it when you play tennis!"

"It's important to me."

"It's just an L."

"Exactly." The necklace is simple – a silver chain and a silver pendant – but it holds more meaning than anything in the world ever has. It was a present. Papa chose it with her. "And do you know what this L stands for?"

"Leah?" she questions as if I am out of my mind for even asking.

"Loser," I tease. She smacks my arm. "Ow! Wife beater."

"We're not married yet." She checks the gold watch on her wrist, a gift from me for our second anniversary; "one hour and forty-five minutes to go." I let out a shaky breath, suddenly finding everything to be very real. Look how far we have come.

Leah's hand drops between us, grasping mine. My palm is clammy. "You're nervous," she realises, the smirk evident in her voice. I don't get nervous often.

"A-are you not?" I stammer in response, heart beating faster as I feel the seconds practically count themselves down. Soon, we will be standing in front of everyone in our life who loves us. What if I drop the ring, or I forget my vows? What if Leah decides she has been fooling herself all along and she doesn't actually want to marry me?

"I've never been so sure of something in my entire life." I gulp, finding that hearing her be so calm only makes me feel guilty for my mouth drying out at the thought of what is to come. And Leah knows me so well that she picks up on it. "Hey, hey," she turns to me, traditions be damned. The plunging neckline of my dress leads her eyes downwards, but when they reach mine again, she is sure to look earnest enough to convince me. "It's just me. Same old Leah. You don't have to be nervous."

I laugh, tears in my eyes. "Do you think Fleur is wondering where I am?" She was nowhere to be found when I slipped out of the hotel room we'd shared last night, equally miserable about having to sleep in a bed with me instead of her girlfriend. Apparently, Alexia Putellas can cope with a blanket hog better than I can.

"I actually walked into the wrong room before you got here. She's busy." Leah bites her lip, and I shake my head, not surprised. "And so is everybody else. I had your father occupy them so that I could talk to you. The WTA tour is far too long for you to not spend at least the morning before our wedding with me."

"What is he doing? Giving them a speech on how to be successful?"

She leans forward, resting her forehead against mine. "'How to raise champions': a lecture by Pieter de Voss. He told me it would be interesting enough for Georgia and Keira to leave me alone. They seemed quite invested in it when I left, to be honest."

"He's going to be a while, isn't he?" Leah grins, and it is clear that her plan has worked. The conniving, hormonal, sexy... "Okay," I sigh, resigning to my even sweatier fate, "but you can't rip my dress."

She pulls back slightly so that she can salute without knocking me out. "I will save that for later, darling." Then, once her arrogance is too attractive for me to not kiss it away, she gently pushes me to lie down on top of the closed piano, impatiently trying to find a way up my skirt.

"I love you," I murmur, closing my eyes. The weight those words bear is heavy, added to every single time I say them, think them, and feel them. I have always felt them. I will always love Leah. And even though part of my nerves are due to this marking the end of a major part of our lives, they dissipate when I remember that this is also the beginning of something else. Something better. Something with Leah that will never, ever end.

a thank you: 

weirdly, this isn't the first book in the series. hold me close started the universe, but then i got a bit too invested in jaimie to not tell her story. 

i find that jaimie ended up with a lot more of a complicated life and plotline than the original just-a-side-character sister of fleur de voss had, but, despite sometimes having to spend hours planning and editing (special mention: planning out her wta tours as if i am a professional tennis player myself), but i have enjoyed every minute of it!

this is my final thank you for reading this fic, but i hope you continue to read the other fics in this series. i hope to see you all again. 

bye for now!