The morning of the wedding, Jane was jolted awake by Skye. It was early, and between all the joyous reunions and soccer games and long walks through the grounds and the rehearsal dinner the night before, Jane was exhausted. She kept saying that it was truly draining to be a double maid of honor. To which Skye kept pointing out that Jane wasn't the only maid of honor, she was sharing the duties with Batty and Lydia. It had seemed unsisterly to elevate just one of them to the role.

At last Jane groaned and rolled over.

"What is it?" Jane said.

"Wanna go down and have breakfast?" Skye said. "Rosie said she wanted us to have a special girls-only breakfast on the patio. Although Ben might be there."

Jane stretched and got out of bed. Her and Skye were sharing a bright and spacious guest bedroom with twin beds. Skye had been sneaking off to Jeffrey's room every night, but she kept wandering back to Jane's to sleep. Jane had accused Skye of trying to uphold some traditional wedding rituals after all, and Skye had scoffed.

Jane suspected that some part of Skye, buried deep down, missed sharing a bedroom with her sister.

As Jane threw on a sundress and ran her fingers through her hair, Skye bounced on the balls of her feet. Skye was wearing flowy cotton pants with a simple white shirt that was cropped to show just a sliver of Skye's flat stomach. To Jane, Skye looked like some sophisticated and elegant scholar lounging on her weekend off work. She also looked just like their mother.

Except for the trademark Skye scowl. Which Jane had decided suited Skye in a bizarre and twisted way.

"God, weddings are stressful," Skye said. "If I have to hear one more person fret about if it will rain, I swear I'll punch a wall."

"You have no right to be stressed," Jane said. "Wasn't the point of doing this double wedding so you wouldn't have to plan anything?"

"True," Skye said. "And because we're wildly and madly in love, so why waste time."

Jane headed for the door. She needed a cup of coffee in order to deal with sappy Skye. Everytime Skye talked about how much she loved Jeffrey, the sentence started out sarcastic and then somehow turned genuine halfway through.

"So you're not going to do a runner?" Jane asked. "Honestly, I feel a bit cheated. I was led to believe that at least one person was going to run, resulting in a dramatic left-at-the-altar situation, and now it looks like both of you are going to go all the way through with it."

"I'm no coward, you know I never run away," Skye said with a grin. "Even if it's pouring rain this afternoon, I'm getting myself to the Greek pavilion."

"So then banish your stress," Jane said. "Not even Mrs. Tifton is causing problems."

Mrs. Tifton had come round. When she first heard the news, from Jeffrey's mouth and far away from any Penderwick, she had allegedly thrown a fit. She had threatened Jeffrey's inheritance, but when it became clear that neither Jeffrey nor Skye cared about the money, Mrs. Tifton had been at a loss. The fight drained out of her, and she was going along with everything. She wasn't exactly being a docile and welcoming mother of the groom, but she was staying with Mrs. Robinette and attending all the events. She had even complimented Lydia's hair.

The real victory had occurred the night before. Mrs. Tifton had consumed a bit too much wine at the rehearsal dinner and admitted to Jane (who Skye was quick to point out had never actually infuriated Mrs. Tifton as much as the rest of them) that Skye was insufferably rude at times, but really did remind Mrs. Tifton of her younger self.

Jane told the story to everyone later, and they had a good laugh. Alec then added that Mrs. Tifton was not exactly wrong. In her youth, she had a fiery personality that reminded Alec of Skye for sure.

Jeffrey shook his head, and Skye scoffed. Jane quipped that was enough psycho-analyzing for the day.

Jane and Alec had not repeated their tryst. They had not spoken of it, and Jane was just fine with that. As they had promised, it was a secret. Jane was well and truly shocked at how easy it was to move on and act natural in front of everyone.

Jane had been unable to stop writing since Point Mouette. The last few weeks had been mayhem. Upon returning to Boston, she had picked up more waitress shifts. When she got home, she had to continue work on the wedding dresses. And then she would write and write late into the night. She couldn't sleep until she got everything out.

She had continued with the stories about her sisters, eventually threading them into a shape. Upon the return to Arundel, a rush of additional memories had overcome Jane, and she had written even more.

As she and Skye headed to the patio, Jane was shocked to realize that she had never felt more confident in her writing. Despite still being a mere waitress, despite all the rejection letters from literary magazines, despite the trail of trials and tribulations, Jane was a writer.

She had lost her self-assuredness somewhere along the way. But now she had gotten it back. Somehow, she was as confident now as she had been long ago, the first summer she came to Arundel and wrote about Sabrina Starr up in that attic.