Trivial Pursuits Ch. 22

Epilogue

"Let there be you, let there be me,

Let there be oysters under the sea,

Let there be wind and occasional rain,

Chilli Con Carne and sparkling champagne,

Let there be birds to sing in the trees,

Someone to bless me, whenever I sneeze,

Let there be Cuckoos, a lark and a dove,

But first of all please, let there be love."

"Let There Be Love" Nat King Cole

In the end, Alessa fulfilled the honor of going to Seoul to help iron out any wrinkles Simpson had created, but when she returned, made it clear she did not wish to return. She had made a very astute assessment of not only what needed to be repaired, but created a very daring, but successful scheme to turn the negative publicity into something very positive. When Hyun-Joong escorted her to the airport, he asked if she had anyone in mind as a replacement, to which she only coyly replied, "Maybe."

Upon her return, Alessa asked Lou to lunch and swallowed her pride to apologize for their rift, fully taking the blame as she'd been too stubborn to take friendly advice. Lou, being who she was and not one to hold a grudge, especially when the person seemed so sincere, fully forgave her with a laugh and hug. Over the course of the meal, Alessa hinted that since she had returned, there was still an opening in the Seoul office that needed to be filled. And though she would miss her friend while she was away, she was happy that Lou might move on to something even greater.

Alessa's family was happy that she hadn't moved to Korea after all, Cadence the most of all of them. And when Shelly made a remark that hinted Alessa wasn't up to the challenge, Alex surprised everyone by not only defending his first born, but by openly admonishing Shelly for her lack of support. Alessa didn't expect much to change between the two, but the mildly veiled disparaging comments did seem to cease.

And though the two had never specifically discussed marriage, Denny proposed to Alessa the night she returned. They had just had three rounds of 'welcome-back' sex, but due to the time difference, Alessa was unable to sleep. Denny suggested a game of Scrabble at the table with candles and wine and no clothes, to which she laughed and agreed. Talking over possible outings for the following day, he casually suggested she look up the weather forecast on her phone to determine if it would be a factor in their plans. While she distractedly scrolled through the hour-by-hour readings, he played the word forever. What made it catch her breath when she finally looked up, was that the letter O had been substituted with a ring.

Denny explained that he had planned on proposing soon after she'd moved in, but when her mother became ill, it never felt right to ask, and of course he hadn't wanted to use it as a lure to keep her from leaving. Now that she was back, he intended on keeping her. Forever.

Once he had slid the ring on her ring finger, she reached across the corner of the table, bringing his face to hers so she could kiss him. Denny put his hands around her and brought her over to sit on his lap. As their kiss heated up, she whispered her answer. "Yes, forever."