And this is the penultimate chapter of the "Before & After" series. One more to go! Hope you enjoy this one; had quite a bit of fun writing it, admittedly. There's mention of one of my other stories, "Epilogue: 2024", so reading that may fill in some gaps. Happy reading!
2014
She said yes. She said yes! Ted cried inwardly as he hugged Tracy, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, unable to let go, the early autumn air—and the coolness from the high altitude—enveloping them.
He couldn't quite believe it. Well, he could; the rational side of him knew that Tracy loved him, that she saw a future with him. But the other part of him—the irrational, scared semblance of a man inside of him that had been put through the wringer time and again—had been scared shitless. Putting his heart on the line was nothing new to Ted; he'd done it far too many times, with one wrong girl after the other, and he'd always been left with his heart being stomped on. And it was never a pleasant feeling.
Yet with Tracy, he knew his heart was taken care of, finally cradled, sheltered and protected. His heart was hers to keep, for the rest of his life, and he knew it was in good, capable hands. Ted was happy, from his ears all the way down to his toes, that Tracy was the last woman who was going to possess his heart, and the only woman he'd ever give himself to this fully.
Sure, he'd proposed to a few other women in the past—more than Ted was proud to admit—but this was different. With both Stella and Victoria, he merely proposed because he loved them at the time, yes, but mostly because he was scared to lose them. But he wasn't asking Tracy because he was scared she'd walk away and wanted a reason to keep her around; there was a security with Tracy where he knew she wasn't harboring feelings for an ex-boyfriend or that she'd get intimidated by his friendship with Robin. She was in it with him.
No, he was asking her simply because he was deeply, hopelessly, irretrievably in love with this girl (and that love was reciprocated), and that a future without her just didn't make any sense.
He felt Tracy's arms around his neck, fingers in his hair, a damp cheek pressed against one of his. He let out a breath as he pulled her closer to him, if them being pressed any closer was even possible, overcome with emotion. Sure, he had occasionally gotten despondent about his lot in life, worried that he'd never reach this moment. But he also knew, through late-night conversations with Tracy where she'd open up and be vulnerable with him, that she also never thought such a day would ever come. After Max, dreams of marriage and kids seemed to die along with him in that car crash, her future looking bleak and lonely. (Her words, not his.)
Ted was so happy to give this to her, to allow her to feel love again, to have hope. And she had given him hope again, too. He figured they were both very messed-up souls who had finally found one another. And even though it was a coincidence at first, proposing to her the day after her birthday, the anniversary of Max's death, seemed like the perfect time to give her a fresh start.
He pulled back reluctantly, his hands moving to her hips, looking down at her glistening brown eyes. He reached out a hand and wiped at her tear-stained cheek with his thumb.
"C'mon, being married to me won't be that bad," he teased. "I put my dirty underwear in the hamper, I'm okay at sex, and I make above-par waffles, so a lifetime together will be bearable, I promise."
Tracy burst out laughing, moving her hands to cup his cheeks, her thumbs wiping at his own moist eyes. "I guess," she said, sniffling. "Try not to hog the remote too often, and I think we'll survive the next 60 years or so."
"I can't make such a promise," he joked, pulling away to look out into the distance, admiring the red, orange and gold colours in the trees, the choppy waves of the Long Island Sound, the squawking sounds of seagulls overhead... He sighed happily; it was a pretty serene moment.
Tracy seemed to be thinking the same thing: "It's real gorgeous up here," she exhaled in wonder. "You sure know how to pick a romantic spot, Ted."
"Only the best for you," he murmured quietly. "I love you, Tracy. I know you're probably getting tired of me saying this all the time, but you make me so ridiculously happy."
She offered him a smile, her soft eyes growing warmer. "And I—" she began, but then Ted noticed her face blanch slightly, and Tracy quickly grabbed on to railing and threw up over the edge.
One hand quickly grabbed on to her hair, holding it away from her face, while the other rubbed at her back, Ted gently running his fingers up and down.
"You ok?" he asked her when she was done, standing back up to look up at him sheepishly. "Unless I should take that as a hint?" He had concern in his voice, but wagged his eyebrows teasingly.
Tracy laughed shyly and wiped her mouth. "Not a hint, no," she assured him. "But I'm alright. I don't know what happened there."
"How do you feel?" he asked her, smoothing down her hair.
"A bit queasy," she admitted, her hands at her stomach. "Maybe it was something I ate at breakfast?"
"I knew the lobster Eggs Benedict were a bad idea," he said disapprovingly, ready to go down to the restaurant and give the chef a piece of his mind. "I mean, who the hell mixes shellfish with eggs, anyway?!"
Tracy put a reassuring hand on his chest. "Calm down, pooh bear," she told him. "Let's just go back to the hotel."
Ted smiled. "There's champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for us in our room," he told her. "I was hoping for some celebrating this afternoon, but let's just get you some tea and put you to bed, huh?"
"Hey!" she told him, holding up a finger. "I can do without the champagne, but we are not forgoing engagement sex, Mosby! We'll just go slow. Real slow." She paused. "We just won't rock around too much, ok?"
Ted laughed warmly. "Lazy, leisurely sex it is, then," he said approvingly. "Let's go."
As they walked away, Tracy looked behind her one last time, guilt in her eyes. "I feel bad for whoever has to clean that up later."
Ted smiled smugly as he followed behind Tracy down the steps. "Curtis will wash down the rocks, don't you worry," he assured her, his hands on her shoulders. "That's right: he now gets to wash my fiancé's puke from the base of the lighthouse!" He was oddly proud of the fact.
Tracy laughed. "Despite your juvenile beef with Curtis—which, for the love of God, has to stop—I love hearing you say 'my fiancé'."
"Well, you're in luck: I kinda love saying it, too."
2025
"How many more steps?" whined Penny, huffing and puffing dramatically.
"Not too many left," Ted told her.
"Why couldn't we go somewhere closer to the ground?" Luke asked, clutching on the banister, pulling himself up the steps.
"We're almost there, guys," Tracy assured them both. "And you know your dad loves coming to the lighthouse, so bear with him."
The Mosby clan were in Farhampton for the weekend, enjoying a family getaway in honor of Ted and Tracy's fifth wedding anniversary. Or so Tracy thought; Ted had actually organized a vow renewal ceremony, bringing her back to the place where he had first proposed to her.
Penny and Luke were both in on Ted's plan, clearly. Their grousing, however, he did not appreciate.
They finally made it to the top of the lighthouse, the kids letting out sighs of relief, whereas Ted and Tracy just smiled at each other and then looked out into the distance. Time and again, the view always felt like they were traveling back in time. And standing there, Ted was certainly transported back to that moment almost 11 years earlier when he had first asked Tracy to be his wife.
Remembering the reason they were up there in the first place, Ted cleared his throat, ready to get his plan into action.
"So, kids," Ted began, looking down at them. "Have I ever told you that this lighthouse is a very special place?"
"No, dad, you did not," said Penny robotically, reciting her lines.
Ted sighed. They should've rehearsed a bit more.
"Well," he continued, slipping an arm around his wife's waist. "This is the exact spot where I first asked your mom to marry me."
"Didn't you also once hurl over the edge, dad?" asked Luke.
Dammit, they were going off-script.
"Where did you hear that, young man?" he demanded.
His son shrugged his shoulders. "Uncle Barney told me," he answered.
I'm gonna kill Barney, Ted thought. "Well... your mom threw up off the edge, too!"
"Cool!" cried Luke.
"Gross..." Penny let out.
"Hey!" said Tracy, smacking Ted on the chest. "I was unknowingly pregnant with our daughter at the time, so you cannot use that anecdote to throw me under the bus like that!"
"Anyway, back to my story," Ted said, repeating his last line: "Ahem, so this is the exact spot where I first asked your mom to marry me." He discreetly gave the kids a pointed look.
"No way, dad!" they breathed out in unison, feigning amazement.
Tracy seemed to notice that something was up. "I feel like I'm part of a real bad improv sketch," she said, looking down at the kids amused, and then up at Ted quizzically. "What's going on?"
"I swear, it'll all make sense in a few moments," he assured Tracy. He then looked back at the kids: "Do you guys want to see how I did it?"
"Sure!" they said.
Ted turned to face Tracy and gave her a sly grin. She still looked as puzzled as ever, as Ted took her hand and removed the wedding band from her finger, following that up with her engagement ring.
Ted got down on his knee, and looked up at Tracy, a soft but confused look on her face.
"So I got down on one knee," he recounted. "I was so nervous. But I began with, 'Tracy McConnell, will—'"
"Actually, honey, you were so nervous, you forgot to say my name," she reminded him teasingly.
Ted blushed. "You are correct. So I began with 'Will you...' and your mom couldn't even let me finish before she said—"
"Yes!" Tracy said and began laughing.
"You didn't even let me..." he continued.
"Yes!"
"Marry me?"
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!" she said, Ted amazed that she still sounded as enthusiastic as she did back in 2014.
They both stood up and kissed passionately, laughing against one another's lips, ignoring Penny and Lukes groans of disgust.
Ted slipped the engagement ring back onto her finger, but kept the wedding band, safely tucking it into his jeans pocket.
"Um, babe?" Tracy said, her fingers reaching for his pants. "My ring?"
He shooed her hand away. "Actually, honey, that's the thing: you're not getting your ring back until tomorrow."
If she was confused earlier, Tracy was simply baffled now. "What's going on?" she asked, her eyebrow arched in suspicion.
Ted looked over at Penny and Luke. "Kids, do you want to tell her?"
They paused for dramatic effect before excitedly announcing: "You're getting married tomorrow!"
Tracy's gaze went from their kids, who were happily jumping up and down, to Ted, who couldn't contain the huge smile on his lips. "What on earth did you do, Ted?"
Ted was delighted that his wife just seemed positively floored by this bit of information, her eyes wide in surprise, her lips curling into a smile. "I just thought it was time we had a real wedding," he explained, moving closer to pull her into his arms. "One that took a year to plan, and not one that was thrown together in just three days."
"Babe," she chided him softly, clasping her hands behind his back. "You know I loved our wedding, right? There really was no need for a do-over."
"I know," he assured her, his voice a low whisper. "I swear, I do; and it was one of the best days of my life. It's just, we've been married five years, and I almost lost you last year..."
Ted thought back to that cancer scare, which forced Ted to briefly contemplate a life without Tracy; it was a thought that frightened him to his bones. And it was what prompted him to plan the vow renewal, a chance for them to re-assert their love for one another, an opportunity to appreciate the fact that she was still with him.
His wife laughed lightly. "Ted, every time you mention the fact that you nearly lost me," she said, also in a hushed tone since the kids didn't have any clue about that week-long scare in February of 2024. "You practically have me with a full-on diagnosis and in a hospital bed. It was nothing; it was a benign cyst, and I am perfectly healthy."
He had to admit, he tended to get a bit maudlin ever since that day, but the fragility of life had suddenly become tangible, reminding him that anything could happen, that either one could be taken from the other, just like that.
"You are healthy, and I am so very grateful for that," he said, pressing his forehead to hers. "Which is why I wanted to do this. It's simply a celebration of our love. You know ours is the greatest love story ever told."
"I think Marshall and Lily may fight us for that title," Tracy warned him, her fingers toying with the buttons of his shirt.
"I'll have my boxing gloves ready," he joked.
She laughed. "So, before you take on our best friends, want to tell me the plan for the weekend?"
"I'm glad you asked! We have a large dinner with all our guests tonight, a rehearsal dinner if you'd like to call it," he explained. "Then, tomorrow morning, you have a massage, makeup and hair appointment with your maid of honor, before our wedding at 5pm."
"Aw, who's my maid of honor?"
Ted pointed at the kids. "Say hello to your maid of honor and my best man."
"You guys helped plan this?" Tracy asked, touched. She crouched down and pulled them into a hug, kissing them each on the top of their heads. "Oh, my Lucky Penny, my little Skywalker... I love you both so much."
"Love you, mom," they said, squeezing her tight.
Tracy stood up and looked over at Ted. "And you," she said, poking him teasingly in the chest with her finger. "I know you can never resist a grand romantic overture. I love you for that."
"And I love that you love that," he said, practically cooing, grasping at her playful finger.
"Dad," Penny whined, averting her gaze. "You promised you and mom wouldn't be dorks."
"Just go to the other side of the lighthouse," Ted told the kids, his eyes still on Tracy. "We're about to get even dorkier. Isn't that right, Tracykins?"
"That's right, pooh bear!" she purred, exaggeratingly rubbing her nose against his.
Penny and Luke groaned and stomped away, Tracy calling after them, "Keep your hands inside the railing!"
Once they were out of earshot, Tracy looked at Ted. "Tracykins?" she asked, amused and unimpressed.
"I know, I'm sorry," he said. "It was the only cheesy nickname I could come up with on the spot!"
Tracy giggled and pressed herself closer to him, allowing her hands to linger on his backside now that the kids had run off. "So, what's the sleeping situation like this weekend? I mean, after the ceremony tomorrow—"
"Marshall and Lily got a two-bedroom suite, so the monsters are staying with them for the next three nights," he assured her with a grin.
"Oh, thank God!" she breathed out, kissing him again, fervently this time.
Ted reciprocated her kiss, hungry for her, happy with the last 12 years together, their five years of marriage, and the many many years ahead. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of Tracy. Sure, marriage was rough. There were a few bad days alongside the many good ones. They needed their alone time occasionally, and there had been disagreements and fights, of course, with passive-aggressive comments and all. But the quarrels always ended with regrets and apologies; neither were ever too proud to apologize. After all, unless either of them had fucked up majorly, they couldn't stay mad at each other for too long.
"Mmm," Ted mumbled against her lips, fighting the urge to press her up against the glass behind them. "I can't wait until tomorrow night, when I can just peel off your dress and—"
"Oh my God, a dress!" Tracy said worriedly, pulling away, her hand at her mouth. "What am I going to wear tomorrow?"
"Don't worry: Lily went through your closet and picked something out. Something tasteful, sexy and wedding-appropriate, I promise," he told her. "She'll drop it off in our room later."
"I can't believe you planned this whole thing out, honey," she told him softly. "I mean, I'm not surprised, but still amazed."
"The invitations, the food, the flowers, the cake," he listed out. "And doing it all behind your back was exhausting. Lying to you is not easy."
Tracy shook her head in amazement. "I love you, Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville," she told him as sincerely as possible, given the silly nickname.
Ted beamed. "And I love you, Galactic First Lady Superstar McAwesomeville," he said. "I love the way you bring music and life into our home. I love that you know how to bring me down a peg or two when needed. I love how you love our kids. I love how you love me."
She smiled shyly under his gaze, moved by his words. "And I love how you've got the dorky dad role down pat," she told him, the affection in her voice, undeniable. "I love your long stories, even if the kids don't. I love your silly fun facts. I love your Sunday morning waffles. And I love how you're looking at me right now."
God, he wanted to marry her right this second. He'd marry her again and again and again if he could. "Come on: let's get this wedding weekend started!" he told her. "I think our friends and family have all checked in by now."
"Wait, is that why you rushed us up here before we even had the chance to go to our room?" she asked.
"Pretty much," Ted confirmed. "Everyone we love was starting to pour into the inn, so I had to get you out of there. I'm surprised you didn't notice Robin and Barney crouched behind that giant plant in the lobby."
"You know, I thought I spotted Beth through a door, but thought it was ridiculous she'd be in Farhampton, so I just figured it was her doppelgänger," she told him.
"The fact that your first thought went to 'doppelgänger' is why I love you so damn much," he said, amazed, kissing her again. "Let's get the kids and head back down."
Tracy closed her eyes, and hugged Ted close. "No, no, no! Stay here. Just a few more minutes of serenity before—"
"Moooooooom!" cried Luke. "Penny threw my Ninja Turtle over the edge!"
"He was annoying me!" Penny belted out in defense. "Are you finished, dad?! I'm hungry!"
"And we're done," Ted said sadly, glancing over at his wife with an amused look in his eyes. They both sighed, took one last longing glance out into the distance, before walking over to where the kids were fighting.
"Lucas! Penelope!" called out Tracy sternly.
"Kids, you guys know this is an important weekend for your mom and I!" Ted said. "You promised you'd behave. Keep this up, and we're giving your best man and maid of honor roles to Uncle Barney and Aunt Robin!"
"Noooooo! That's so unfair!" said Penny as Tracy ushered her down the stairs.
"We're sorry, dad. We're real sorry!" Luke cried, looking up at Ted with regret in his voice as he marched down the steps behind his sister. "Pleeeease don't make Uncle Barney best man!"