Chapter 21 (Epilogue) - The Answer
"You need to go rescue your husband from himself. He's going to worry away the rest of this evening," Nick tells me as he twirls Harmony across my path and back onto the dance floor. The sparkle of her wedding band matches the look in her eyes as she smiles at me over Nick's shoulder.
I place my champagne glass on a table and head toward the corner of the hotel ballroom that Blaine has hidden himself in. As I approach, I take a moment to appreciate how handsome he looks in his tuxedo. Even after all these years, a single look at him gets my blood flowing southward and when he glances up from his phone, with his smile that is just for me, he takes my breath away.
"Put that phone away, Mr. Anderson-Hummel," I demand and slide confidently into his personal space.
"I'm worried I won't be able to hear it ringing over the music," Blaine tries to defend himself, but one look at me and I see him slipping it into his jacket pocket.
"Our spotlight stealing daughter danced her little heart out and is now safely tucked into my childhood bed, in my childhood home with her doting grandparents. And we, my husband, have the rest of the night to ourselves. Something that hasn't happened in a very long time. So you are going to leave your phone in your pocket and we are going to dance. And then later, if you're lucky," I wink and wrap an arm around his waist to pull him against me, "I will worship every inch of that gorgeous body you're hiding under that perfectly tailored tuxedo."
"Well, then it's a good thing that I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Blaine says with all seriousness as he takes my hand and spins me onto the dance floor.
We glide easily across the dance floor, weaving in between our friends, who are the last few couples remaining as the reception starts to wind down.
"This has been the best week," I say to Blaine and sigh in contentment, "I'm actually dreading going back to New York. Isn't that crazy?"
"Not crazy at all!" Blaine exclaims. "When was the last time we could spend this much time together as a family and with our friends. No one had rehearsals, or performances, or dance recitals to worry about. I'm not sure how New York has survived without us actually. But I know I've loved every second we've spent in Lima."
"Yeah, we've stolen away a handful of Broadway stars," I say with a nod of my head to where Nick and Harmony are dancing. "And let's not forget, New York's biggest solo musical act," I say with a kiss to Blaine's cheek. "It's amazing that we haven't been hounded to return!"
"I'm pretty sure the theatre community is waiting for you to bring back their next big thing," Blaine tells me. "What are the chances that three of Broadway's brightest stars would come from Ohio. And since you're credited with giving them, and so many others, their start, it would only make sense that a week in Ohio must be a talent search."
"I think they're all just hoping I change her mind," I say quietly, looking across the dance floor to where Finn carefully dances with his beaming bride.
"Then they don't know Rachel Berry, I mean, Rachel Hudson, at all, do they?" Blaine asks with a smile.
"No they really don't. There's no changing her mind. She had Broadway, and she even had movies, but all she ever really wanted was him. And now she can have that too," I say with a heart full of love for my best friend and my brother. The road to tonight was a hard fought one, but I have never seen either of them happier. Rachel has finally come home.
"It was always going to be her and him," Blaine says, reverently. "Just like it was always going to be me and you, right?" Blaine asks, with only a small moment of hesitation. I know he doesn't actually worry, that ten years into our own marriage, we are stronger than ever. But being back in Lima, and seeing how long it took for Finn and Rachel to get their happily ever after, it's sometimes hard to believe that we got ours already.
I pull him in tighter, our bodies slot together like two perfect puzzle pieces, and I put my lips at the outer shell of his ear. "You were in my dreams, even when you weren't in my life. It was always going to be you and me," I tell him with a soft catch in my voice and a gentle kiss to his neck. "And you make every moment of my life better than any dream I ever had." I rest my head on his shoulder and dance the rest of the night, the rest of my life, with him.