Page 28 of Independence Bae

Chapter Twenty-One

I didn’t wantto come down. Ted and I floated on another plane somewhere. Every smile took me higher, every caress wound me tighter, and every time I looked at him, I remembered I was now Mrs. Marley Tucker. The entire day was everything I ever hoped a wedding could be. Every bite of food was otherworldly. Every song the band played, dug into my emotions, and made a home for themselves. The lights that twinkled above us seemed twinklier, the cake sweeter, our friends funnier, I gorged myself on the happiness of everyone else in attendance and still found room for more.

“Marley Jacobs, you look like you’re going to launch into another stratosphere.” Raven and Penn walked towards us.

Honestly that’s how I felt. Pick a metaphor: an over filled balloon, a rocket shooting for the moon, the fizzy top of freshly poured beer—they were all me. All of them individually and together.

“Ladies and gentleman, if you could make your way towards the boat launch, we have a special surprise for the bride and groom.” Finn, Gemini’s boyfriend and co-owner of The Tuckaway took the stage as the band wrapped up their final set.

“Penn! Is this your surprise?”

Raven hinted earlier that I’d be over the moon with his wedding gift. He held his hands up in defense, shaking his head. At the boat launch near the water someone had set up a throne, for lack of better words, of oversized patio chairs on an elevated platform.

We just got situated, figuring out how to gather all of my dress in my lap when the first pop of fireworks went off.

“Ted?” I turned to look at him and he looked just as surprised as I was.

“Guess you’ve run out of guesses.” Raven laughed, squatting in her heels to wrap her arms around me in a hug. “What could I have possibly given to the two of you that you didn’t already have?”

As if she’d practiced the synchronization of her gift, she stood and pointed, just as the first pops sailed into the air, whistling as they launched before bursting and lighting the sky in color.

“May your life always be filled with magic, excitement, and fireworks!” She toasted to us as champagne flutes were passed to everyone who had assembled. Mine was sparkling grape juice, of course.

“Gosh, what a perfect night.” Hillary and Bert sauntered over to where we sat, just as the finale petered out. “I can’t even tell you the last time we got out without our kids. And triple bonus, we’re in adult clothes and having conversations that don’t center around grades, sports, or who used profanity when they weren’t supposed to.”

As they pulled chairs up to where we sat, Ivy and Cain drag chairs from the opposite side.

“It’s going to be so great to show you all around Chicago,” Cain addressed Ted and Penn. He and I had barely spoken five words to one other, aside from him giving us his congratulations but Ted and Penn seemed to have forged an instant kinship with him and Bert.

“I heard from our lawyers that it’s officially official.” Ivy air toasted everyone as she sat. “The Bear and Raven Show will officially become part of Hursh Industries and Media, at the top of the year.”

Everyone cheered, sharing hugs and congratulations. Chicago. That’s right. Somehow in all of the revelry of the day I’d forgotten we were now on a countdown.

“I am so appreciative of your team Ivy.” Ted’s arm around me tightened, pulling me against his chest. “It’s so important to us to be able to have the babies in North Pole, and give us some time to adjust to being parents before we pick up and move.”

I could only nod. I made my peace with my decision. The move would be good for our tiny family, good for our friend family and overall was a smart move. But I could be sad at the prospect of saying goodbye to the little town that was as much a part of me as my Mom was.

“Great opportunity for a segue, Ted. Because looking at your wife at the moment, she shouldn’t be anything but blissfully happy on her wedding and fuck if I don’t love being a goddamned hero.” Penn reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny box, wrapped in silver paper with a dainty silver ribbon on it.

Ted motioned for me to open it, a huge smile sprawling across his face. Inside the box was a Tiffany heart keychain with a singular key hanging from its barrel.

“I couldn’t think of a way to give you something that symbolically represented your present.” Penn shrugged, tossing back the last remnants of his drink, setting the glass down on the ground. He rubbed his hands together, smiling at me like he had the very best of secrets and was trying to figure out how to say it.

“We all know the prospect of leaving North Pole is a very scary endeavor for you. Your house—which used to serve as a Bed and Breakfast in your growing years, was the last place that houses all the memories of your Mom. I one hundred percent understand why you would want to hold tight to those memories and keep them preserved.”

He took the key from my hand, holding it so it reflected the shimmery lights around us.

“No matter where we go, Marley—no matter what town we put down roots, you will always have your home.”

“I don’t understand.” I turned to Ted for explanation, but he shrugged and tipped his head back to Penn.

“I’m in the business of hotels, Marley.” He smiled, winking at me. “My company is going to restore the Bed and Breakfast to its old glory days of back when you were a kid. That way, there will always be people on the property, my company can upkeep the grounds and take care of issues, and you still get to have the family quarters and all the privacy of your family home—ready and open any time you want to go home for a visit.”

It was too much. I wasn’t used to so many people being so invested in my own happiness. This feeling was so foreign. Last year, I’d be so alone. Scraping and clawing through life, just trying to keep from drowning. Now I wasn’t just surrounded, but enveloped by love and concern. My life was overflowing with people who held me up, and who worked together to find solutions that made that happiness equitable amongst all of us.

“I don’t even know what to say, Penn. I’m honestly speechless.” I turned the key over in my hand, a montage of images playing in my head of all the times in my own life my mom and I spent in that house together. Now, we could still have memories there. It could be a home, and a home away from home for others, simultaneously. Just as it had been.

“Raven and I both want you to be as excited about moving to Chicago as we are, and this sseemed like the perfect solution. You don’t have to sell it. You don’t have to worry about winter upkeep or having to treat it like your summer home that sits ignored most of the year. This way—it will always be there ready and waiting.”

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