Resisting the Current

Epilogue

Epilogue

We were married the next weekend. It was just a small ceremony at the courthouse. Tonya was my maid of honor. Landon’s father was his best man. It was strange meeting my father in law at my wedding. He was a lot like Landon. I could tell he was apprehensive about our marriage at first. I couldn’t really blame him. As the day went on he began to loosen up. He even talked about maybe finding a place in Oregon to be closer to us. 

As promised, Miss Wright delivered my work every week. I could tell she was still hurt by Landon’s and my relationship, but she never treated me poorly because of it. I ended up being grateful for how things worked out at school. It was bad enough having to run errands in town, surrounded by gossip. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that at school.

  Landon and I moved in to our new house the weekend after the school year ended. I ended up paying for Tonya to stay at my old apartment for six months. I finished my schooling online. Since I was able to do the work at my own pace, I was able to finish in three months. I’d had to rush because, like everything else in our relationship, we’d had an unexpected event. I’d gotten pregnant. And no, before you ask, it wasn’t planned. Landon was upset at first. Not because he didn’t want kids, but because he was terrified that he’d completely taken my youth. He said he’d still hoped I’d go to college, to travel and experience life. I assured him I would take courses online, and that the only place I wanted to be was in our new house, with him. He didn’t understand how I could have gotten pregnant since I was on the pill. I told him the pill was only ninety-nine percent effective. Since we’d been married, and since we were both out of work, all we’d done is had sex. It was likely to happen sooner or later. 

I was overjoyed. Sure, it wasn’t planned, but the idea of starting a family with Landon filled me with bliss. If there was one thing I’d learned in my life it was that time was not promised to anyone. Both Landon’s first wife and my mother passed away at young ages. I was not going to take my time with him for granted. Sure it would be tough, but I knew Landon would be a great dad. 

Landon’s father even ended up moving to Oregon. Like Landon, he found living in the same house as his deceased wife too painful. I think he’d even grown to like me, or at least did a good job of pretending when I was around. Landon assured me that his father had gotten over our age difference, just happy to see his son was in love again. More than anything I think Landon’s father was excited to be a grandfather. I wondered if he’d given up that hope when Landon’s wife passed away. 

Luckily, Landon was able to find a job at the local community college. I joked that I could enroll in his class and we could go back to sneaking around as teacher and student. For some reason he didn’t think that was funny. 

The new house came out great. The river was even nicer than the one we’d left behind. We spent every evening sitting on the newly built dock, just talking, falling more in love with each passing day. Just like I’d fantasized, I would spend my days writing and enjoying the sounds of the river. Landon would come home from work; greet me with a kiss on my lips, and another on my growing belly. When we found out we were having a girl we decided to name her Harper, after my favorite author. We’d made the room closest to the river into a nursery. We wanted Harper to be able to listen to the river every night. 

“So Mrs. Reynolds, any regrets?” Landon asked. We were sitting on our patio, watching the sun disappear over the distant mountains. 

“About what?”

“I don’t know about us? About how things turned out?”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” 

“What? Really? Tell me.” 

“I was never able to finish your class,” I told him. 

“Oh my dearest Cassidy, class is just beginning.”