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Epilogue

“Good morning, beautiful,” Nick said to Olivia.

“Good morning, husband,” she smiled. “What time is it?”

“Seven-thirty, and I’m late. There’s fresh coffee downstairs and the clothes are already in the dryer.”

“Thank you, knight in shining armor.”

            He leaned down and kissed her soft lips.

“I love you darlin’. I’ll be home no later than six.”

“I love you, too.”

            Olivia stretched and heard her phone ring from the side table.

“Good mornin’ Kenley.”

“Good mornin’ to you. I was just callin’ to say that I just hired two new stylists . . . from New York and do you know what they said about the way you designed the salon?”

“What’d they say?”

“They said in all the salons that they’ve been to, they’ve never seen one as ritzy and gorgeous and up to date with so many new products as my salon.”

“That’s awesome, Ken! You’ve got you one bad ass salon, girl!” Olivia laughed.

“Seriously, though. I know I say this like, I don’t know, every single day, but thank you. And sayin’ that doesn’t even come close to how I feel. There should be a better way to say thank you. Like, holy shit, you bought me a freakin’ salon and everything to go in it and decorated it and designed it yourself. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, thank you!”

            Olivia laughed.

“Well, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, you are beyond welcome and you deserve it more than anybody in this world!”

“Oh, I gotta run, my seven o’clock just showed up—late, but still, she’s here. Love you!”

“Love you, too darlin’.”

            Olivia laid the phone back down on the table and tossed the covers off of her body. She walked over to the windows and opened the curtains, allowing the sunlight to pour into the room. She looked down at her left hand and couldn’t help but smile. She remembered when she had thought she lost the ring her father had given her and the day she married Nick, he surprised her with it and then spent the next handful of hours apologizing for not telling her. He kept saying he wanted it to be a surprise and he was sorry for scaring her the way he did. She remembered crying and being in awe of how gorgeous her engagement ring and her grand momma’s ring complimented each other, the way she knew they would all along.

            Olivia walked down the hallway with light feet and pushed open the office door. She did this every morning as a way of saying good morning to Marshall.

            Olivia had still not gone to college but she was now content with that decision. She wanted to wait until everything had settled down before putting her time and effort into something else. She liked being the home-maker, unlike her own mother. She liked having dinner on the table when Nick got home from work. She remembered the day Nick came home with the news that he had quit the law firm.

“Why in the world did you do that?” she nearly screamed at him.

“I did it because . . . I was offered a job at the college teaching Journalism.”

            The smile that beamed from within his eyes made Olivia’s heart flutter that night. He had finally been offered his dream job and Olivia couldn’t have been happier for the both of them. Everything had finally started to feel like it was coming together.

            Olivia walked across the hall and pushed the bedroom door open where her beautiful brown eyed girl looked up at her past her long eyelashes. Olivia smiled. Ella had Olivia wrapped around her fingers and she knew it.

“Mornin’ Momma”.

“Good mornin’ angel.”