15 Summers Later

Epilogue

On a beautiful August afternoon, sixteen years after the summer that changed her life, Madi married her best friend in the small stone chapel in Emerald Creek.

The groom cried. So did the groom’s mother, his daughter, his sister and the bride’s grandmother.

Oh, and so did the matron of honor—the bride’s sister—as well as the bride’s six-week-old niece, Ava’s newborn baby girl...until her father finally took her out.

Madi didn’t cry. She was too filled with an incandescent joy that seemed to blaze through her as she said her vows to the most amazing man she had ever known.

Later, at the reception that followed in her grandmother’s lush garden, she sat on a bench, holding Ava’s tiny daughter, Sophia Beth Brooks.

“I don’t want her to spit up on you in that beautiful dress,” Ava fretted.

“I wouldn’t care,” Madi assured her sister, cradling the precious miracle more closely to her chest. “It’s only a dress. Anyway, I think I’ve already got dog hair all over it from the pictures we took earlier with Sierra and all the fur babies.”

Her fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, who had loved planning every detail of the wedding, for which she felt personally responsible, had insisted they needed a picture together with the three of them as well as Madi’s two dogs and the two that Luke and Sierra were bringing into the marriage.

“They’re all part of our blended family now, right?” Sierra had said with a grin. “Anyway, it will be adorable, since the animals brought you and Dad together and you both love them. We’ll definitely post it on the socials for both the vet clinic and the animal rescue, but I also think we should have a print framed and hang it over the mantel at the new house.”

Wanting a fresh start, Luke had sold the house he had purchased with Johanna, and together, he and Madi had purchased land next to the animal sanctuary. They were building their own house, a beautiful log home with windows that overlooked the mountains and acreage they eventually could use to expand the animal rescue.

“I don’t need to ask if you’re happy,” Ava said now. “You’re lustrous, Madi. I’ve never seen a more radiant bride.”

“I didn’t know I could ever be this happy. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Ava smiled and Madi didn’t miss the look she sent through the crowd, unerringly finding her own husband. “Believe it or not, when you pick the right person, it only gets better.”

Madi reached for her sister’s hand, moved by her sister’s happiness. Ava deserved this joy and more.

More than a year after publication, Ghost Lake was still showing up on bestseller lists, this time in paperback form. She imagined when the movie came out the following summer, it would only generate more sales for her sister.

Ava had slowly managed to come to terms with her unexpected success. She quit her teaching job at the end of the school year, right before she had Sophia. To Madi’s joy, her sister and her husband and baby had moved to Emerald Creek for the summer while he worked at the dinosaur dig again. Madi knew that in between caring for her newborn as well as their two rescue dogs, Beau and Gracie, Ava was writing another book.

She wouldn’t share much about it yet, except to say it was fiction this time and would have suspense, danger and a healthy dose of romance, naturally.

Luke came over then, in search of his new wife.

“Here you are. I should have known you would be holding the baby.”

“Either that or playing with a dog somewhere,” Ava said with a smile. “Here, let me take her back. You two should go dance. What’s the point of booking the Rusty Spurs to play at your wedding if you can’t enjoy it? You can hold your niece anytime. How often do you get to dance with your brand-new husband on your wedding day?”

“Good point.”

After kissing the baby’s forehead that smelled of innocence and dreams, warm milk and whispered lullabies, Madi handed her back to Ava.

Luke pulled her to her feet and straight into his arms, where he kissed her with that stunning tenderness that still took her breath away.

As he led her out to the dance floor amid the laughter and the lively notes of the band, Madi savored the magical summer night, surrounded by all those they both loved, in this garden aglow with fairy lights and small lanterns hanging in the trees.

As she gazed into her husband’s eyes, Madi knew their story would endure far beyond this dance under the stars.