Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
The mountains were quiet this morning.
The kind of quiet that wasn’t silence, exactly—just peace. The sigh of wind through the pines. The distant rush of a creek. The soft creak of the porch swing as it swayed under her bare feet.
Lark sat curled on a wool blanket, a mug of coffee cupped between her hands, watching the sun crawl over the ridge.
The light poured down the valley in golden ribbons, brushing against the cabin roof and setting the dew on the grass sparkling like glass.
Ty had been right. Early summer had been beautiful in Montana, but fall was amazing.
Ty’s cabin—their cabin—looked exactly like the man himself: solid, simple, built to last. Rough-hewn logs darkened by years of weather.
A wide porch that faced the sunrise. Inside, it smelled like cedar, coffee, and the faint trace of smoke that never quite left the air.
There was a massive stone fireplace, shelves lined with well-worn books and old maps, and a bed big enough for a man like Ty… and just right for her.
It wasn’t fancy, but it was home. More than any penthouse or five-star hotel had ever been.
She smiled faintly, tracing a finger around the rim of her mug as she looked toward the open door. Inside, Ty was at the stove, frying something that smelled suspiciously like bacon. Caesar lay at his feet, tail thumping lazily against the floorboards.
Six months ago, she’d never have imagined this—her life small and wild and real.
She had made new friends in Montana. Ty’s brothers, his mountain men, often dropped by with food, trades, or for a word. Case Savage’s wife, Gemma, was a schoolteacher in town and had become a close friend, along with several women in town.
She had also gotten to know Tony Monroe’s family, the leverage her father had tried to use to manipulate Ty into running her off her dream.
As expected, her father had pulled out of helping them with their tax bill, but Lark’s trust fund had more than enough to help them.
She did it anonymously, but Ty knew she had done it.
When he found out, he held her tight, thanking her without words.
Tony was family. Just like the rest of the mountain men. That’s what family was about.
She glanced down at the open magazine on her lap.
Wild Hearts, the latest issue, lay spread to the center pages.
Her photographs—taken right here in these mountains—filled the glossy spread: elk in the morning mist, a bear and her cubs by the falls, a hawk mid-flight against a storm-lit sky.
Her name printed cleanly at the bottom of the page.
Lark Prescott—Through the Lens of the Wild.
Her heart gave a little flutter every time she saw it. Though she thought she would have preferred Lark Grady as a byline. It was who she was now.
She still couldn’t believe it had actually happened—that the gallery show had led to a feature, that the feature had led to more offers.
One of them sitting in her inbox right now was from a magazine based in Alaska.
They wanted her to spend three months documenting the northern wilderness. Glaciers. Wolves. The aurora.
It was everything she’d once dreamed of.
And for the first time, she didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to take it.
Behind her, the screen door creaked open, and Ty stepped onto the porch, two plates in hand. He set them down on the small table beside her and leaned against the railing, the morning light catching on his beard, turning the flecks of gray to silver.
“You’re up early,” he said, voice still rough from sleep.
“So are you,” she said, smiling up at him. “You’re usually out checking fences by now.”
He shrugged, eyes soft. “Figured I’d cook you breakfast instead. Can’t have a big-time magazine photographer running off on an empty stomach.”
Her smile faltered slightly. “So you saw the email.”
He nodded, watching her closely. “Alaska, huh?”
She hesitated, searching his face. “It’s just an offer. I haven’t said yes. It’s not until next year, after winter.”
He crossed the porch, crouching beside her chair until they were eye to eye. “Why not?”
“Because it’s far. And I don’t want to leave you.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Sweetheart, I spent a decade chasing danger across the world. I think I can handle three months without you if it means you’re doing what you love.”
Her chest ached. “You’d really be okay with that?”
He brushed his thumb along her jaw, his touch gentle. “I don’t want you to ever feel trapped, Lark. Not by me, not by this place, not by anyone. You belong wherever your heart takes you.”
She leaned into his hand, eyes stinging. “You know, you’re getting good at this whole emotionally healthy communication thing.”
He grinned, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Don’t tell Jake. He’ll never let me live it down.”
She laughed softly, then sobered, tracing the line of his arm. They stayed that way for a long moment, the world shrinking down to the warmth of the morning, the steady rhythm of his breathing, and the soft weight of his hand at her waist.
Finally, she whispered, “Alaska’s a long way away.”
“Mountains are mountains,” he said softly. “They all call to you the same way.”
“And if I said I wanted you there?”
His answering smile was slow and sure. “Then I guess we’d better start packing.”
Her heart swelled, the future stretching wide before them—open, untamed, beautiful.
She reached up, cupping his face in her hands. “We have time. Then let’s start here.”
And as she kissed him, the mountains rose behind them—vast and eternal, witnesses to the wild, imperfect, extraordinary love they’d built together.
Book two in the Mountain Man of Granite Junction series is available now! Teaching the Mountain Man is about Case and Gemma and is available now.