A lot.

So we’re going to do it all again. Truth be told, we’ll probably renew our vows next year, and the next and the next.

Another Epilogue

A few months later

Once upon a time there was a man, there was a woman, and there were some wild speed bumps on the road to their happily-ever-after.

But we navigated them all.

Along the way, I discovered that trust isn’t about proof. It isn’t about getting fooled, or not getting fooled. It’s a choice. One you make with your heart. Natalie has mine, and I had to learn that it was safe and sound in her care. Always.

Her heart is safe with me, too, even though she does like to beat me up in her videos.

Her self-defense series has become quite popular online. New students have found her through them and have started taking the classes she teaches a few nights a week. That makes her happy, and when she’s happy, I’m happy, too.

She might have to cut back soon, though. Things are changing around here. Her belly is a little rounder.

No, it wasn’t an oops baby. It didn’t happen one drunken night. Please. My wife is a planner. And we planned this. In fact, the bun might very well have gone into her oven on our third wedding night. The one right here in New York.

The two of us are the first of our friends to get knocked up, but that fits us. We seem to have two speeds—either stalled or moving at sixty miles an hour. We’re not stalled anymore, so in this case we broke all the limits, and in several months, we’ll be a family.

Right now, though, I’m heading out with Natalie to the farmers’ market. We’re not shopping for asparagus or arugula. We’ve always liked it risky, and today we’re going to take our chances.

We’ve got a date behind the banana stand.

THE END