A/N: For those that think it was Tansy's plan to take Zoe to Wade's bar for nefarious reasons - you're absolutely right! She's still a little bitter about George's previous feelings for Zoe. However, in more important news, it's the morning of the Zoe/Joel wedding, and since this is the last chapter of the story, I'm sure y'all can figure out how that's going to go... ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

They blamed it on the heatwave. That and the cocktails. Not that anyone but she or her mom knew what had almost happened between Zoe and Wade last night. It couldn't matter now. This was Zoe Hart's wedding, the day she married Joel Stephens, then headed back to New York City, and put Bluebell behind her once and for all. It was what she wanted, of course it was, and yet...

"You sure you'll be okay in all of this on a day like today?" AB fussed as she finished fastening Zoe into her dress. "I got less on than you do and I'm already about to sweat through in places I hardly dare mention," she told her in a low voice.

"I'll be fine," Zoe promised, staring almost unseeing at her own reflection in the glass.

Behind her, Gigi was sprawled in the armchair, still nursing last night's hangover, which was why Annabeth had taken over in helping Zoe get dressed in the first place. Candice was having her hair finished off, and Lemon and Lavon were ensuring everything was ready for the reception at the Rammer Jammer. Of course, if Zoe had known about Wade owning the place before last night, she would've had the party anywhere else, for reasons that even a blind man could see, but it was a little late now.

Despite what she said, Zoe was feeling more than a little warm now she had on her whole wedding dress with its many layers. She had been expecting to get married in New York, where such a thing would've been comfortable enough to wear, but down in Alabama, where the heatwave had yet to break, it was more than a little stifling.

"That look on your face is making me nervous," AB said then, meeting Zoe's gaze in the mirror. "Did I tie you into this thing too tight?"

"It's not that," Zoe assured her, patting her hand at her waist. "You've done a great job, thank you, AB. It's just... I hope Joel is doing okay. I heard things at his bachelor party got a little crazy."

"Well, these things are designed to get outta hand," she said, shaking her head. "Lavon and George are still alive and well, from what Lemon told me, so I imagine your man is too."

She turned away then to see to her son who was fussing in his seat but Zoe could only continue to stare at her own reflection. She was getting married... again. It was impossible not to think about the first time she had done this, thinking it was forever. She could be just as wrong about this one, couldn't she?

"Oh, sweetheart," Candice declared as she joined her daughter, wrapping a careful arm around her shoulders as they smiled at each other in the mirror. "You look so beautiful."

"Thanks, Mom," Zoe said shakily. "I just... I kind of wish Dad was here."

"You know, what? Me too." Candice nodded her head. "Harley was such a good man, and I know he's looking down on you and feeling so proud of the woman you've become, just like I am."

She kissed her cheek then walked away, leaving Zoe feeling even more uncertain that she had been before. There was no doubt Harley would be proud of Zoe for becoming a doctor, he had shared that dream for her, but she wondered if he would be so glad to see her getting married again. Harley always liked Wade, and Zoe had to admit there were a lot of things about him to like, to love even.

A scene played in her mind unbidden from the night before, outside of the bar in Mobile, Wade leaning down towards her, only with a little imagination Zoe could see and feel what that kiss might've been like and a shiver ran through her, despite the heat of the day.

"Zoe Wilkes, I swear you better be ready for this wedding because it is more than ready for you!"

Lemon's voice yelling to her cut through the dream and Zoe snapped to attention. She turned around to find her frenemy stood by the door with Lavon and couldn't help but smile as they both gasped.

"I know I never was a real Southern Belle but-"

"But you would do our noble ranks proud in that dress, Zoe Hart," Lemon told her without pause.

"You do look real fancy, Miss Zoe," Lavon agreed. "Joel won't know what hit him when he sees ya."

Zoe nodded her thanks as everybody got ready to go. Before long, she was climbing carefully into the car with her mom and Gigi, watching for a moment as Lavon and Lemon's car headed down the driveway ahead of them towards town. Then Zoe allowed herself one glance back at the carriage house that had been her marital home the first time around. The bridal car was almost off the plantation grounds entirely when another vehicle headed the other way - Wade's car. He was finally home.


Zoe was more than a little surprised to see George Tucker waiting for her when the car pulled up to the kerb. At first, she had a horrible sinking feeling that maybe he was going to do something stupid, like tell her he still carried a torch for her or something, but Zoe was already sure that whole thing was water under the bridge. It was only when she realised he had papers in his hands that she really began to frown.

"George?" she said, stepping out onto the sidewalk beside him. "What's going on?"

Her eyes flitted to the town square a few yards away and the gazebo beyond the crowds of people. Everybody was gathered ready for the wedding, Joel would be waiting up there for her. Zoe didn't have time for whatever this was.

"Hey, Zoe. Um, we have just a little teensy bit of a problem here," said George, shifting awkwardly in place. "See, I started getting this antsy feeling about your divorce papers this morning and I realised that I never did finish off that whole process."

"George, no." Zoe shook her head. "It's my wedding day, please tell me this isn't going to be a problem."

"What is going on?" asked Candice as she and Gigi crowded around Zoe. "Whatever this is, George Tucker, can't it wait?"

"No, ma'am, I'm afraid it cannot," he told her plainly, before putting his attention back on Zoe alone. "See, you really, really wanted Wade to sign these papers, and he did, which is fine, but you know, what? Someone else didn't sign 'em," he said pointedly, pushing the relevant page into Zoe's line of sight.

Just as he said, Wade's signature was right there on the line where it should be, but right underneath, in the space where Zoe should've signed her own name, there was nothing, only blank space.

"Well, this is easily solved," Candice said definitely, rifling in her purse and quickly producing a pen. "Sign your name, honey, then we can get on with this day."

Zoe took the pen without even looking at her mother. Her eyes were fixed on the page in the spot where she never had put her name. All she had to do now was sign, it was so easy, so why did it suddenly feel like the hardest thing in the world?

Her eyes moved up from the paper to the strained look on George's face. He was never the man for her, no matter how much he had wanted to be once upon a time. Only Wade was ever enough for Zoe Wilkes, it was why she had become Zoe Kinsella. Legally, that was still her name, if she didn't sign.

"I can't," she said at last, pressing the pen back into Candice's hand as she turned to look at her. "Mom, you know I can't... and you know why."

There was a moment when she looked like she might argue, but then she sighed.

"Yes, I know," she admitted. "I wondered before, but last night at that bar when I saw you two, then I knew for sure," she said, nodding her head.

Zoe smiled, so relieved that her mother wasn't going to fight her on this, so relieved she got another chance. Taking the divorce papers firmly in both hands she tore them in two without a moment's pause and handed them back to George.

"Thank you, Mr Tucker," she said, grinning wide, "but I won't be needing your services anymore."

"Never been so glad to lose a case in my life," he told her happily. "Anything else I can do for you instead?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it again fast, frowning hard. "I need to talk to Joel," she realised aloud. "Could you ask him to meet me, um..."

"In my office," said George, tossing her the keys. "I'll bring him right over."

Zoe leaned in and kissed his cheek before hurrying away to the office to wait for her fiance. She hated the idea of breaking his heart, especially now and like this, but it had to be done. Otherwise, she was going to break her own heart, even more than it had already been broken, and she didn't think it could take very much more.


Sat out on the front porch with a beer in his hand, Wade stared across at the carriage house, knowing it was dumb to torture himself but unable to help it somehow. He felt sick. Not that he really expected to feel any other way on the day his wife wed another man. He tried to stay out of town until this hellish event was over with, but something wouldn't let him. Something made him need to be right there in Bluebell, perhaps just to prove to himself that it was really happening, that it was really over this time.

It ought to have been plain enough when Zoe upped and left town all those years ago, but Wade had never entirely let her go. Fact of the matter was he just didn't know how. Even now, when they were officially divorced and she was saying her vows to some other guy, a part of Wade still felt like it was tied to her, his first love, and forever would be.

"Here's to you, Zoe Wilkes," he said, raising the bottle in the air and then bringing it to his lips.

He still had his head back, drinking down the dregs when the car pulled to a halt with a screech of tyres right in front of him. Wade faced forward just in time to see Zoe, wedding dress and all, practically tumble from the driver's seat into the dirt, only just managing to find her feet in time. All he could do was stare at her.

"Hi," she said, still a good ten feet away.

"What in the hell are you doin', girl?" he asked, putting his beer bottle aside to join its four similarly empty brothers. "Ain't you supposed to be gettin' married?"

"Turns out I can't marry anyone else." Zoe shook her head. "According to George Tucker, I'm still married to you."

Wade couldn't quite figure out what the look on her face was all about when she said that. Zoe ought to be mad at him if they were still wed, because it was royally screwing up her day, and yet, she didn't look mad, just kind of nervous somehow.

"I signed your papers," he reminded her.

"You did." Zoe nodded. "But I didn't."

Wade took a moment to process that, rubbing a hand over his face as he did so. When he dared to look at Zoe again, he found her taking a couple of tentative steps forward.

"It's so weird, I could've sworn I signed them before," she explained. "I mean, I kept yelling at you for not signing, it seems crazy that I wouldn't do it myself, but I didn't, and... and today, when I was standing there with the pen in my hand and the guy I'm supposed to marry waiting there for me..." she trailed off a moment. "I just couldn't do it."

She moved forward another step and Wade scrambled to his feet.

"No," he said, shaking his head at her. "No, this is... this is the heatwave talkin'," he told her definitely. "Zoe, you and me, that was a long time ago."

"It started a long time ago," she agreed, "but that doesn't mean it ever stopped."

Moving forward some more, she stood right at the bottom of the steps now, straining her neck to look up at him.

"Wade, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I left the way I did, that I stayed away so long, that I never even tried to explain-"

"You think I care about any of that anymore, Zoe?" he cut in, moving down the steps to stand before her now. "We talked about this already. I know why you ran off, I get it. Hell, we weren't exactly getting along back then. The fighting, it was always a part of who we were, but it got ugly towards the end, and it wasn't all on you."

"We were both hurting so much, we took it out on each other," she recalled too easily, tears coming to her eyes at the thought of it. "We were young and stupid, but it doesn't have to be that way now. I... I love you," she said definitely, meeting his gaze. "I always loved you, Wade Kinsella, and I don't think there'll ever be a day when I stop."

It was all he wanted to hear in so many ways, and yet Wade hardly dare believe it was true. His hand reached out to cup her cheek, his other arm around her waist pulling her closer.

"You sure this ain't just the heat makin' you talk crazy?"

It might've been a joke if he could find her a smile, but right now Wade's heart was beating wildly in his chest and his question was very real. He had to be sure she meant this. It would break him entirely if he lost her again.

Zoe opened her mouth to promise him her vow was true when the sky broke with an almighty crack and the rain came pouring down on them. She laughed, she couldn't seem to help it, and Wade joined in as they both looked to the skies a moment.

"No more heatwave," she said, shivering as the rain soaked into her dress and completed the job of wrecking her hair that had begun when she came tearing over here in such a rush. "And I still love you, Wade. I really, really do," she promised, looking up into his eyes once again.

"Yeah, well, I guess the truth is, Zoe Wilkes, that I never did find a way to stop loving you either," he told her, smiling as he pulled her ever closer and their mouths finally crashed together.

The rain didn't matter, nor the day, nor the place, nor any damn thing but the two of them. Even when they stopped kissing just to breathe for a minute, they kept their arms wrapped tight around each other, holding on like they would never let go.

"You know, I just never thought I could be the kind of man you deserved. After you left, I... I thought if I could just make something of myself, the same way you were trying to, then maybe... maybe you'd come back."

"Wade, you didn't need to change for me to love you. I told you, I never stopped," Zoe promised, arms locked around his neck still. "I wish I'd known sooner that you came to New York..."

"Yeah, well," he said, pushing her rain-soaked hair off her face, "I thought I was doing so good, with the Rammer Jammer and all, but then I saw the big city, what being successful really was and..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Maybe I could've been enough for little Zoe Wilkes," he said, smiling fondly at her, "but I never thought I could be all that a woman like you needed, doc."

"I'm still me, Wade," she promised him. "I don't know why I ever thought I needed to pretend I wasn't. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren't worthy of me. Honestly? I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. I never did know how to live up to how much you loved me."

"Well, maybe we're just both as dumb as each other," he decided, laughing because he didn't know what else to do. "All I can tell you is, I'm glad you came home, Zoe, and I'm real glad you didn't get married today."

"So, you're happy I didn't sign the divorce papers?" she checked, fighting a losing battle to blink the rain out of her eyes.

"Zoe Kinsella," he said then, smiling that good old church social smile of his that she loved so much, as he took her face in his hands. "I would be the happiest man in this whole damn world if you would agree to continue to be my wife."

"Why would you wanna be married to me, Wade Kinsella?" she asked, beaming up at him.

"Because..." he told her simply, before he kissed her one more time.

A/N2: Just an Epligue to follow... probably Monday. In the meantime, I hope you liked what you've just read ;)