Chapter Twenty: Epilogue

Heather Bower moved into Wendy's house and nannied for both families for the next five years while building a handmade jewelry business. Her divorce was quick, but not lucrative. Michael had sheltered many of his assets prior to their marriage. She dated occasionally for several years before meeting Aiden, a corporate training designer. They married in 1992 and had two children.

Wendy Wittner became the VP Operations & Finance for Fast Track Marketing. She had a torrid affair with a gutter specialist named Gus before meeting a personal trainer named Donnie. They lived together until his untimely death in 2005. Then she surprised everyone by getting back together with Herb.

Shirley Grant began as Creative Director in New York and moved to Chicago to start a new branch in 1989, before succeeding Angela as CEO upon her retirement in 2008. Charlotte DeWitt succeeded Shirley as Creative Director in New York.

Rosie Houston earned her MBA and became a whiz at statistical analysis. In 2000, she founded her own marketing analytics company, backed by Angela's investment of capital.

Mona Robinson spent ten years as VP of Human Resources before running off with a Greek shipping magnate. She lived out most of her remaining years on yachts in the Mediterranean.

Samantha was adopted by Angela in 1986, while Jonathan wasn't adopted by Tony until 1990, due to Michael's lack of cooperation. Rosemary's parentage was never challenged. As the years went on, Sam became closest to Angela while Rosemary became closest to Tony. Jonathan remained his grandmother's favorite.

Sam Micelli became interested in environmental and social causes. She earned a master's degree in journalism and founded a niche magazine, which later moved from print to online. She eschewed relationships until the age of thirty, when she met Matt, a rancher with environmentalist leanings. She did not change her name upon marriage. They decided to limit their carbon footprint by not having children.

Jonathan Micelli became an investment banker. He maintained a "business partnership" with Ted Casano until 2011, when they married in New York in front of three hundred guests, including an uninvited Michael Bower. They subsequently adopted a seven-year old boy and his twelve-year-old sister out of foster care.

Rosemary Paige Micelli became known in popular culture as RPM after being recruited to USC in 2003 as a track and field athlete. She surpassed Tony's height by the age of fourteen and ended up being nearly six feet tall. After coaching professionally for a few years, she parlayed her good looks and talent into a few endorsement deals. Sam remained her best friend into adulthood, and Rosemary followed her into the childfree lifestyle.

Tony Micelli modeled for a few more ad campaigns in his late thirties and returned for one last photo shoot with his youngest daughter when he was sixty. He earned his BA in Education from Ridgemont in 1990 and taught elementary school for a couple of years before pursuing a PhD in History. As a professor and baseball coach, he was never able to match his entrepreneurial wife's income.

Angela Micelli was extremely influential in growing the market for women's sports equipment, shoes, and attire through Fast Track Marketing. As a woman running a female-centered company, she was profiled by numerous magazines, including People, Parents, Time, and Newsweek. Her life was written into multiple case studies at business and law schools, mostly centered around her Wallace & McQuade wrongful termination suit and her initial BabyJogger campaign.

In 2008, Angela retired and moved to Iowa City with Tony, who was finally on the tenure track at University of Iowa. She had amassed quite a bit of wealth by this point, and decided to start a foundation to fund multiple philanthropic interests. She gained a following of six million users on Twitter yet accompanied her husband to every UI event without pulling focus.

In 2013, Angela and Tony took their children and grandchildren to Makeout Rock for a fiftieth anniversary vow renewal. Tony finally put a four-carat diamond solitaire on Angela's finger, and then they kissed for fifty-seven seconds. Sam and Jonathan sat in camping chairs and recounted stories of the summer their parents finally got together, while his kids and their baby sister listened intently from a blanket on the ground. When they were done, they saw that Angela and Tony were lost in their own world, dancing to music only they could hear.