EPILOGUE
Trent
One Year Later…
The ring had been burning a hole in my pocket for three weeks.
I’d driven to Nashville, walked into the fanciest jewelry store I could find, and told the salesman I needed something perfect for the woman who’d turned my world upside down. Something that would make her understand that I wanted forever with her, not just for now.
The ring I’d chosen was simple but stunning—a solitaire diamond surrounded by smaller stones that caught the light like the gold flecks in her dark eyes. The moment I’d seen it, I’d known it was hers.
The problem was finding the right moment to give it to her.
I’d planned a dozen different scenarios. A romantic dinner at the house. A picnic in the orchard. Even considered asking her during one of our lazy Saturday mornings in bed. But every time I started to reach for the ring, something stopped me.
It wasn’t that I was having second thoughts.
Hell no. I’d never been more sure of anything in my life than I was about wanting to marry Abby.
I wanted to wake up next to her for the rest of my life.
I wanted to listen to her stories about her students and catch her every time she inevitably fell down.
I wanted it all with her.
But I also wanted the proposal to be perfect. She deserved perfect.
Which was why I was currently standing in the apple orchard at six in the morning, checking and double-checking that everything was ready.
The early April air was crisp and sweet, carrying the scent of apple blossoms that had burst into bloom seemingly overnight.
Pink and white petals drifted down like confetti, carpeting the grass beneath the trees.
It was exactly what I’d been waiting for.
“Trent?” Abby’s voice carried across the orchard, and I turned to see her walking toward me, coffee mug in hand and a confused expression on her face. “What are you doing out here so early? And why did you ask me to meet you out here?”
She was wearing one of my flannel shirts over jeans, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, and she looked so beautiful in the morning light that for a moment I forgot how to speak.
“Trent?” she said again, stepping closer. “You’re kind of freaking me out. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s perfect,” I said, finding my voice. “More than perfect.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’re standing in the orchard looking like you’re about to throw up.”
Romantic, Lawson. Real romantic.
“I’ve been thinking,” I started, then stopped because my carefully rehearsed speech had completely evaporated from my brain.
“About what?”
“About apple blossoms.”
She looked around at the trees, taking in the riot of pink and white flowers that surrounded us. “They’re beautiful.”
“Do you remember what you said when you asked about the history of the orchard?”
A smile tugged at her lips. “I said a lot of things that first day. Most of them sarcastic.”
“You said something about tragic romances involving forbidden love and apple blossoms.”
“I was being a smart-ass,” she said, but her cheeks were turning pink. “You shot me down pretty thoroughly, if I recall correctly.”
“I was an idiot,” I said, stepping closer to her. “Because you were right. This place is full of romance, especially now that you’re a part of it.”
“Trent...” There was something in her voice, like she was starting to understand where this was heading.
“You changed everything, Abby. This place, my life, me. You took a grumpy hermit who was convinced he was better off alone and made him believe in love again.”
Her coffee mug slipped from her fingers, hitting the ground with a soft thud, but neither of us moved to pick it up.
“You made me believe in forever,” I continued, reaching into my pocket. “You made me want things I never thought I’d want. A family. A future. A partner to share all of this with.”
I dropped to one knee right there among the fallen apple blossoms, and Abby’s hands flew to her mouth.
“Abby Foster,” I said, opening the ring box to reveal the diamond that sparkled in the morning light.
“You fell into my life and turned it upside down in the best possible way. You brought laughter and light and love to every corner of my world. You made this house a home and turned my carefully ordered existence into the adventure I never knew I wanted.”
Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, but she was smiling through them.
“I want to spend the rest of my life catching you when you fall,” I said. “I want to grow old with you in this orchard, watching the seasons change and the trees bloom year after year. I want to build a family with you and pass down everything my grandfather and father taught me to our children.”
“Trent.”
“Marry me, Abby. Be my wife, my partner, my best friend, my everything. Make this official and let me love you for the rest of our lives.”
For a moment, she just stood there staring at me, and I felt my heart hammering against my ribs as I waited for her answer.
Then she launched herself at me, knocking us both backward into the soft grass and apple blossoms.
“Yes,” she said, laughing and crying at the same time as she covered my face with kisses. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”
I rolled us over so she was beneath me, framing her face with my hands and kissing her properly. She tasted forever, and when we finally broke apart, we were both breathless.
“I love you, Trent Lawson,” she said, looking up at me with eyes full of joy and love and promise.
“I love you too, future Mrs. Lawson,” I said, and slipped the ring onto her finger.
It fit perfectly, just like everything else about us.
She held her hand up to catch the morning light, watching the diamond sparkle among the falling apple blossoms. “It’s beautiful. It’s perfect.”
“You’re perfect,” I said, and kissed her again because I couldn’t help myself.
“When?” she asked against my lips.
“When what?”
“When do you want to get married? Please tell me you’ve thought about this beyond just the proposal.”
I laughed, rolling onto my back and pulling her with me so she was sprawled across my chest. “How about here? In the fall, when the apples are ready to harvest. We could set up chairs between the trees, have the ceremony under this old tree where we got engaged.”
“An apple orchard wedding,” she said, grinning down at me. “Very fitting.”
“Think your kids would like to be in the wedding party?”
“Are you kidding? They’d be devastated if they weren’t included.”
“And Martha can help coordinate—”
She cut me off with a kiss, pouring all her love and excitement into it. When we broke apart, we were both smiling.
“I can’t wait to be your wife,” she said.
“I can’t wait to be your husband,” I replied. “Though I should probably warn you—I’m still going to be grumpy sometimes.”
“I’m counting on it,” she said. “I fell in love with a grump. I’d be disappointed if you changed completely.”
“Never going to happen,” I assured her.
We lay there under the apple tree, surrounded by fallen blossoms and the promise of our future together. And as we whispered about our future, I thought about how perfect this moment was.
She’d fallen into my life unexpectedly and now she was going to be my wife. We’d build a life together in this orchard, surrounded by the trees that had been in my family for generations and the love that would carry us through whatever came next.
“Trent?” she said softly.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for catching me.”
“Thank you for falling,” I said, and kissed the top of her head.
And as the apple blossoms continued to drift down around us like nature’s own wedding confetti, I knew that everything in my life had led to this moment, to this woman, to this perfect beginning of our forever.