Epilogue
I walk into the room and see her sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing an oversized shirt that says moody AF, and she’s surrounded by papers. I chuckle as I lean against the door frame and watch her. The sunlight from the window glows in her hair. She looks up and smiles, and that smile always makes me fall in love with her all over again.
We’re back at the cabin for the summer, wanting to spend some time in the place where we fell in love with each other. She needed the break.
The second book of her series is out in two weeks and the pre-orders have been amazing so far. The first book was an instant best time seller.
“What’s all this?” I move closer, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.
“They’re letters.” She picks one and stares at it. “My mom wrote them before she died, and they’ve been guiding me.” She pauses as her eyes scan the words. “Thanks to her support and her pushing me even when she wasn’t here, now I’m a published author.”
“And an instant New York Times best seller,” I add. “I’m sure she is very proud of you.”
She nods and smiles. “Thank you.”
“Can I read some of them?” I look at the box with the letters. Some of them are still unopened.
“Sure.” She nods. I sift through them and spot an old journal, its leather cover worn.
“What’s this?” I hold it out to her.
Her eyes narrow. “Oh my God, I forgot all about it. Do you remember the small café I used to go to down the main road, Marie’s Café. The lady there, Marie, gave it to me.” She stares at it. “I told her about the waterfall. She told me a story about a couple with a secret waterfall and said this was her journal.”
“You still think the waterfall is kinda magical.” It’s something I never told anyone because I like that we were the only ones who knew about it. Our secret place.
“How else would you explain why no one talked about it?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Have you read it yet?”
She shakes her head, her fingers brushing the journal spine.
“Well, let’s read it.” Scooting closer, I sit beside her with her body pressed against my chest. I wrap my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her shoulder as she opens her journal.
I met a boy by a stream named Eadrick . She begins. Strange—that’s my great grandfather’s name, but hey, lots of people named Eadrick.
I continue to listen to her. For some weird reason, everything is so familiar, like old memories and dreams. The same way I felt when I met Mia. She pauses, looking at the name at the end of the first entry. The person signed her name.
Ifu.
She stares at it as if she’s remembering something. She turns to me, and I stare back at her, the woman I love with all my heart and soul.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. It felt like I was there while reading it.”
My eyes widen because that’s exactly how I feel.
“You know what’s even weirder? Eadrick is my great-grandfather’s name.”
“That is weird.” She frowns.
We dive back into the journal.
Our friendship grew over the years in secret because the Black maid’s daughter couldn’t be friends with the young master. According to my Godmother, my father was from France, but I never met him. As we grew older, I felt nervous around him, and he stared at me when he thought I wasn’t looking.
I glance at Mia, seeing a smile spread across her face as she continues reading.
Then he told me he loved me. It scared me because I loved him, and I knew they would never allow us to be together.
The more she reads, the more lost we get in the story. At one point, it feels like I’m not listening anymore. I’m transported into the story, and I’m Eadrick.
My Godmother caught me coming from one of my meetings with Eadrick. She was so mad that she called me by my full name, Ifunayla.
Mia stops and freezes before turning to look at me.
“My great great-grandmother’s name was Ifunayla.”
My eyes fly open. This is just getting weirder by the second.
We continue reading as she talks about the waterfall and the necklaces they made for each other with emerald rocks from the waterfall. Mia stands up, looking at her necklace as she paces back and forth in front of me.
“You said your grandfather gave you your necklace and it was from your great-great-grandfather Eadrick, right?”
I nod.
“And my mom gave me mine, but she said it belonged to her great-grandmother, Ifunayla.” She rubs the necklace. “Which means it’s the same necklace.” She covers her mouth. “Oh my God, our great-grandparents knew each other, and they were in love.”
She places her hands on her hips, deep in thought. “The waterfall, the necklaces—did they bring us together?” She halts to a stop as she seems to add things up in her mind. “Does that mean we’re them and they’re us? I mean it makes sense.” She starts pacing again, biting into her finger. “They way we felt when we first met as if we already knew each other, and we’re the only ones that knew about the waterfall.”
Honestly, I don’t know what to think. It’s a lot to process. All I know is that the moment I met Mia, I felt there was something special about her.
“I don’t know, baby.” I get off the bed and pull her towards me. She raises her beautiful eyes to meet mine. My heart tightens at the sight of her. “I don’t know what all this means—the necklace, the waterfall. All I know is I love you, so much. And yet something in me recognized you the moment we met.”
I rub her cheeks, her skin soft and warm under my fingertips.
“I’ve never loved anyone before you. Maybe it wasn’t because of my dad and Jessie. Maybe it’s because I already loved you in another lifetime.” I’ve put up walls around my heart for so long, but with her, they crumble naturally. “I didn’t believe in love or soulmates before, but I believe you’re mine.”
People always think just because you’re soulmates, you get to spend every lifetime together. I don’t believe that. There’s no guarantee we’ll be together in the next life. Some people can spend lifetimes without their soulmates, always missing that part of themselves.
“I believe you’re my soulmate too.” Her eyes are filled with unshed tears.
I’ve been carrying this box in my pocket for months. I bought it the day after she agreed to give us another chance. Because I knew I didn't want to spend my life with anyone else but her.
“Baby, I don’t want to spend another second in this lifetime without calling you my wife .” I inhale deeply, forcing myself to stay calm. My heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest. “I let you go once, but I don’t plan on letting you go ever again.”
Lowering myself onto one knee, I pull out the box, showing the ring. It’s a custom diamond ring with a moonstone—her birthstone, and a symbol of how she is my moon. My hands tremble as I hold it up to her.
“Every day, I find a million tiny reasons to love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life falling in love with you. Will you spend this lifetime with me?”
Tears cascade down her cheeks. Her body shakes as she kneels in front of me. “Yes, I want to spend this lifetime with you.”
I take out the ring and slide it onto her finger, my hands still shaking. She looks at the ring, then cups my face with her hands, her eyes full of tears and love.
I close my eyes, leaning into her touch. Her hands are warm and soft, touching the deepest corner of my heart. I press my forehead against hers, breathing her in. “Je t’aime tellement, mon amour.” I love you so much, my love.
“Je t’aime plus, mon rayon de soleil.” I love you more my sunshine. She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me close. We hold each other tightly, our hearts pounding in unison, and I don’t know I’m crying until her thumbs wipe the tears from my face.
Just like a waterfall, our love is a force of nature. It’s powerful, unstoppable, and beautiful. No matter the obstacles, it will find away to flow and keep moving forward, always.
I'll offer the forest pov as a bonus epilogue.