Epilogue
LUCY
Valentine’s Day one year later…
“ W here are you taking me?” Flashes of pale light glimmer between Ethan’s fingers as I try to peek through, but he’s got his hands firmly over my eyes.
The ground is uneven, and based on the breeze on my cheeks and the smell of pine trees, I’m sure we’re somewhere in the woods behind his cabin.
“Somewhere special.” We walk for another few minutes and the air changes, becomes purer. I guess we’ve come to the clearing up the hill behind his cabin.
Ethan stops, and I stumble against him as I stop walking.
“I got you.” His body presses solidly against mine, keeping me steady.
“You ready? I’m going to uncover your eyes now.”
He drops his hand from my eyes and I gasp, taking in the sight before me.
The clearing has been transformed. Fairy lights hang from the trees, their lights sparkling in the darkness. A fire pit burns in the middle, its embers glowing and warming the cool winter night.
Surrounding the fire pit are an array of colorful blankets, and a pile of large plump cushions form a seating area. Next to the cushions is a low table with platters of food and a champagne bucket.
“Ethan…” I turn to him, and my eyes shine with tears.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Lucy.”
He kisses me gently then leads me over to the cushions. I swipe at my eyes as once again my man surprises me.
In the year that we’ve been together, not a day goes by that I’m not blown away by his thoughtfulness.
For the first few months, we did the long distance thing, one of us driving to the other every weekend. We’d have the most amazing lust-filled weekends, and then I’d spend the week miserable without him.
But last semester, a place came up at the local school in Hope, and I applied.
We’ve been living together since I started the position. I had no problem leaving Winter Town behind. It’s close enough that we still visit Cassie and Nick for ribs every few weeks.
But Hope and Wild Heart Mountain is my home now. It’s where my man is, where my future is.
I take a seat amongst the cushions and Ethan joins me. He pulls the food table over, and I almost cry again when I see what’s on there.
One platter contains a gooey melted ring of camembert with bread dippers, and the other platters contain different items of chocolate themed desserts. On one platter are marshmallows, Graham crackers, and Hershey bars waiting to be assembled into s’mores and roasted. But it’s the third platter that takes my breath away.
There’s chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and a bowl of chocolate ice cream that’s almost melted by the heat of the fire.
“You remembered the chocolate desserts.”
He’s remembered everything. Everything from the first night we spent together when he asked me what would make our makeshift Valentine’s picnic perfect.
He remembered the fairy lights and the fire pit, the cushions and the champagne. He even remembered the s’mores and camembert and most importantly the chocolate desserts.
“How did you remember all this?”
He takes my hand in his and pulls me against his chest. “I remember every single detail of that night, Lucy.”
He smiles and I kiss his lips, loving the way he looks at me.
“I wanted it to be perfect for you.”
I scoop a large chunk of bread into the melted camembert and pop it in my mouth. The gooey cheese sets off a burst of taste sensations, and I close my eyes and moan.
“If you keep doing that, we’ll never get to the main part of the night,” Ethan growls into my ear.
I open my eyes and give him a sultry look. “What’s the main part?”
Ethan slides his arm out from under me and takes something out of his pocket. He crouches before me, then lowers one knee to the ground.
I gasp and sit up straight on the cushions, wiping cheese from around my mouth. If I’m about to be proposed to, I don’t want to be lying down with a cheese moustache.
“Lucy Foyle.” Ethan opens the box to reveal a ring. “You’ve restored my faith in women and in love. I was lost without you. I thought I was better without love in my life. I was so wrong. You taught me to love again, you healed me, then you opened me right up. I’m yours, mind, body and soul, and I swear I’ll spend the rest of my days doing all I can to make you happy, to protect you, and to give you as many orgasms as you can handle.”
I giggle and Ethan smiles. He’s not in the least bit nervous. He knows how I feel about him. He knows there’s only one answer.
“Will you make my heart whole and agree to spend the rest of your life with me, Lucy Foyle? Will you marry me?”
A wide grin spreads over my face, and I launch myself off the cushions and into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes! Of course I will!”
My force pushes him over and I roll on top of him, covering his face with kisses.
“You didn’t have to do all this for me,” I tell him. “I would have said yes over sandwiches and cheap beer.”
“I wanted it to be perfect, exactly how you described when we first met.”
I take his cheeks in my palms. “You silly man. Don’t you know the only thing I need to make it perfect is for you to be there? The rest is just decoration.”
In one quick movement he rolls me onto the cushions, and my body comes alive at his familiar weight on top of me.
“Speaking of decoration, can you let me put this damn ring on you before we lose it in the cushions?”
I hold my hand out, and he slides the ring on. The diamonds sparkle in the twinkling fairy lights.
“It’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.”
As his kisses become more urgent, the cheese and champagne and chocolate are forgotten. We lose ourselves in each other, under the stars in the woods, ready to start our life together.