Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
EPILOGUE 1
MAC
SIX MONTHS LATER
“Looking good, little brother. You’re all shaved and everything.”
I run my hand over my cheek. I went to one of those fancy barbers who offers straight-razor shaves on top of haircuts. I usually don’t know what to do with my facial hair, leaning towards fashionably scruffy, but that wouldn’t work for a wedding. So I instead went with the easy option of being clean shaven. I can’t wait to get my mountain man stubble back, but I sure hope Merit will like this.
“Finally found someone to tame the beast within, huh?”
“Yes, Lemon, that’s why I’m marrying her.”
My sister slaps me on the back. “So happy for you, little brother.” She without fail reminds me that her skill of being born before me is something she is very proud of.
And here I am, another Rough rushing the whole matrimony thing along. I always thought it a bit silly, at least before I ran into Merit. She filled me with a complete understanding that you can find someone and just have everything click perfectly.
Lemon straightens up my bow tie, and pats me on the shoulders. “Time for you to go out there and get hitched. Make the family proud.”
“Been waiting six months. Don’t think I could have waited much longer.”
“Could have always done what Graham did and just run off to the courthouse.”
“We joked about it, but Merit wanted something more traditional. You know, wipe away the stain of the last marriage-related thing she dealt with.”
She told me all about her ‘marriage’ to one of the Free State people. How she didn’t have a say, and it had been ‘officiated’ in about five seconds by some shady preacher who had long ago been excommunicated from his church.
The Free State is no more. My call for help with Merit was the last thing the FBI needed to do the raid they’d been wanting to do and what the feds found was enough to put everyone behind bars for a very long time. A lot of innocent girls were rescued from the cult’s clutches, and the members’ crimes only increased in severity over the years. They even had the audacity to capture a whole lot of it on video.
Merit will never have to deal with her sad excuse for a father again. She holds out some hope that her mother could be deprogrammed out of the cult-like mindset, but that will take time. I too hope for the best, but I know nothing ever comes easy with this sort of thing.
But with regards to the whole marriage thing? We’re going to do it right. With a preacher who we’ve gotten to know on a first-name basis thanks to all the weddings we’ve been having recently.
I head up to the altar, the traditional organ music already playing. It’s a sunshine-filled day, but we have a large tent just in case nature wants to try to raise an objection to what we’re doing. The wedding is taking place on a piece of land I recently bought, and we’re going to get to building a farmhouse for Merit and me very soon. A very personal project for the family, and I can’t wait to get started on it.
I smile at the masses in attendance. Mostly it’s Roughs, and some Rowdys, and Merit thankfully has some aunts, uncles, and cousins who live in Idaho and Oregon who never bought into the Free State stuff and are just glad Merit has gotten free of all of it with her sanity intact.
I wait patiently for my bride.
There she is. Veiled with a magnificent white dress. Before her, happily tossing flowers down the aisle, is Plum, my brother Reuben’s daughter. She prances cheerfully, as cute as a button, leading my bride down the aisle.
Behind her is Prairie, who has developed quite the kinship with Merit these past few months. They both dealt with controlling men and cult-like mindsets, so they’ve had a lot to talk about.
I’m captivated by every step Merit takes, so happy to finally be making it all official.
The preacher does his thing – I’ve practically got it memorized with how often I’ve been to weddings lately, but this time it’s special. Because it’s my and Merit’s turn.
“Do you, Mac Rough, take Merit Monroe to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, until the day you die?”
“I do,” I say, nodding and not taking my eyes off of her.
“And do you, Merit, take this man as your husband–”
“Absolutely. Uh,” she bites her lips. “I mean I do.”
She turns red. She told me how important it was that the wedding be perfect, and she as she interrupted the preacher, she was so eager to marry me. Everyone lets out a quiet laugh. It’s a nervous time. To declare our love to everyone, and to make it forever.